chamber. consumer adviser clark howard health care reform his way scrubbed clean of the politics. u.s. open tennis sensation, melee oudin, the slipper doesn't fit cinderella this year. i'm tony harris live from new york city. good morning, again. you are in the "cnn newsroom." we'll break down the big issues to find out why they matter. president obama keeping us his renewed push for health care reform today the president made another pitch for overhauling health care just moments ago hoping to build on momentum from last night's prime time speech. he spoke to members of the american nurses association about new figures showing a rise

in the number of uninsured. >> over the last 12 months it's estimated that ranks of uninsured swelled by nearly 6 million people. that's 17,000 men and women every single day. we know that during this period of time the number of adults who get coverage at the workplace has dropped by 8 million people. >> a congressman's angry outburst during president obama's health care speech condemned by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. south carolina republican joe wilson shouted "you lie" when the president was refuting claims about his reform plans. >> there are those that claim our reform would insure illegal immigrants. this, too is false. the reforms i'm proposing would not apply to those here illegally.

>> you lie! >> it's not true. >> wilson apologized in a statement and a call to the white house. house speaker nancy pelosi right now -- do we have a shot of her? talking about what happened last night and representative wilson. >> didn't give it anymore attention than it deserved. >> did you think about gaveling him out of order? >> if he had continued. sergeant in arms passed him a piece of paper that said what options were. we're just going to move on. on that same subject -- >> just wanted to give you a bit of the flavor of the weekly get together with the media that the house speaker holds and taking a question about the remarks last night from representative wilson. a newly released tape of swindler b er bernard madoff.

he infers that s.e.c. investigators aren't too bright. again, that tape from a massachusetts state investigators. a california state rep quits after he accidentally confesses to a pair of extra marital flings. republican mike duvall, a family values man, bragged about his sexual escapades before an open mike. the tape later in the "newsro " "newsroom." bizarre claims from a religious fanatic accused of hijacking a jetliner. he allegedly told mexican officials he hijacked the jet

because of the date. september 9, '09, saying 9/9/9 is the number 666 upside down. the flight landed safely in mexico city. the suspect claimed he had a bomb and held the plane for more than an hour before passengers and crew were released unharmed. >> i think it was controlled fairly quickly, swiftly, and without any incidents. >> 111 passengers and crew were aboard that flight. she is out but what a wonderful run for melanie oudin. the 17-year-old marietta, georgia, teenager lost her match last night to a ninth seed who was a fabulous player. oudin arrived at the open unknown. she defeated four opponents including the world's fourth ranked player.

here's what she had to say on cnn's "american morning." >> i'll definitely learn that i have gained confidence this tournament that i can do this again hopefully and compete with the best in the world no matter how highly ranked they are. i beat a huge champion and been number one in the world before. my confidence has gone up. >> cnn's sports larry smith was at the open and will join us in about 20 minutes. let's go in depth right now. president obama made a forceful and passionate plea for health care reform during his prime time draaddress to congress. he said it's crucial to the country's future economic health. >> our health care system is placingen unsustainable burden on taxpayers. when health care costs grow at the rate they have, it puts greater pressure on programs like medicare and medicaid.

if we do nothing to slow these skyrocketing costs, we'll eventually be spending more on medicare and medicaid than every other government program combined. put simply, our health care problem is our deficit problem. nothing else even comes close. nothing else. now, these are the facts. nobody disputes them. we know we must reform the system. the question is how. there are those on the left who believe that the only way to fix the system is through a single pair system like canada's where we would severely restrict the private insurance market and have the government provide

insurance for everybody. on the right there are those that argue we should end employee based systems and leave individuals to buy health insurance on their own. i have said -- i have to say that there are arguments to be made for both of these approaches. either one would represent a radical shift that would disrupt the health care most people currently have. since health care represents one-sixth of our economy, it makes sense to build on what works than what does rather than building a new system from scratch. >> we'll break down the speech with members from the best political team on television. i took symbicort and symbicort is already helping significantly improve my lung function. so today, i've noticed a significant difference in my breathing. and i'm doing more of what i want to do. so we're clear, it doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms.

my doctor said symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. my copd often meant i had to wait to do what i wanted to do. now i take symbicort and it significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort has made a significant difference in my breathing... now more of my want to's are can do's. ask your doctor about symbicort today. i got my first prescription free. call or go online to learn more. (announcer) if you cannot afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

we'll get you updated on what's happening with hurricane fred. latest advisory brings it to 100-mile-an-hour winds. category 2 drifting up toward the north slowly. it's forecast to head this way. it this is the coastline of africa. way out in the middle of nowhere. it will hang out here for a couple days. we'll see what happens after that. it will definitely weaken. we're not too concerned at this point. we're watching a front that's stalled out across the south. that's the focus of showers and thunderstorms specifically northern part of this front. this low will head toward the jersey shore. as it does so, it will keep an east wind and at times a fairly wet wind for the delmarva across the i-95 corridor. wet day tomorrow for new york city. space shuttle will try to land tonight about 7:00. there will be thunderstorms around. they'll give it two shots tonight for cape canaveral.

we'll see if they can make that happen. zooming into what's going on around south texas. this is fantastic news for san antonio and austin who have been struggling with the drought. corpus christi seeing rain with this. this will be here for a couple of days. a low may develop here south of houston. we'll watch that for potential development as we get closer to the weekend. meantime, good morning, vegas. kls. looking at temperatures seasonable. sunshine, blue skies. nice morning to wake up to. that's the latest from here. a nutritious breakfast e from walmart for just over $1 a person. one breakfast a week saves a family of four over $800 a year. save money. live better. walmart. (announcer) what are you going to miss when you have an allergy attack? achoo! (announcer) benadryl is more effective than claritin at relieving your worst symptoms. and works when you need it most. benadryl.

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the time for bickering is over. president obama blasted what he called the partisan spectacle over health care reform during his speech tonight. he said it is time to seize the opportunity for action. >> we've seen many in this chamber work tirelessly for the better part of this year on thoughtful ideas how to achieve reform. of the five committees asked to develop bills, four completed their work and the senate finance committee announced today it will move forward next week. that's never happened before. our overall efforts have been supported by an unprecedented coalition of doctors and nurses and hospitals and senior groups and even drug companies. many of whom opposed reform in

the past. and there is agreement in this chamber on about 80% of what needs to be done. putting us closer to the goal of reform than we have ever been. what we've also seen in these last months is the same partisan spectacle that only hardens the disdain many americans have towards their own government. instead of honest debate, we've seen scare tactics. some have dug into unyielding ideological camps that offer no hope of compromise. too many have used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points even if it robs the country of our opportunity to solve a long-term challenge. out of this blizzard of charges and countercharges, confusion has increased. the time for bickering is over. the time for games has passed. now is the season for action.

now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together and show the american people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. now is the time to deliver on health care. >> okay. so how did the president's speech impact the debate and what happens next in the battle over health care reform? let's bring in our correspondents. elaine quijano it at the white house for us. congressional correspondent brianna keilar at her post on capitol hill. elaine, let's start with you. let's start with strategy. what's the president's strategy moving forward? he certainly was out this morning talking health care reform with members of the american nurses association. >> reporter: that's right. surrounded by members of the nurses association. the president tried to reiterate his case that health care reform needs to get done now. he said nurses understand full well. they are on the front lines of the health care fight and they know the urgency of the situation.

the president also repeated that he intends to press ahead with a bill with or without republican support. take a listen. >> now is the time to act. i will not permit reform to be postponed or imperiled by the usual ideological diversions. we don't need more partisan distractions. if there are real concerns about any aspect of my plan, let's address them. if there are real differences, let's resolve them. but we have talked this issue to death. year after year. decade after decade and the time for talk is winding down. the time for bickering has passed. we're not the first generation to take up this cause but we can and have to be the last. >> reporter: what is next? the president will meet with members of his cabinet today to talk health care. at the same time behind the scenes we'll be looking at when the president is expected to sit down with a meeting of about a

dozen or so senate democrats who are expected to come to the white house. senior officials telling ed henry that this will be the chance for the president to get to some of the fence sitters and get them in the room together and pull them over and we'll see what comes out of that and then on saturday as you know there's that public rally in minneapolis, minnesota, where he's taking his sales pitch on the road once again. >> all right. brianna, let me turn to you here. the senate finance committee moving ahead on writing and getting a markup on its bill. are any of the republican senators in the so-called gang of six on board with this plan and what are we likely to hear from house minority leader john boehner coming up soon? >> reporter: we still don't know if they're on board, tony. the negotiations continue and the chairman of that committee says he's going to move forward. he set a date to go through initial votes there in the

committee. it was really interesting talking to democrats on the house side. liberals and conservatives who have opposing views on this government run insurance option to see what they thought of that speech last night. it was a case of they heard what they wanted to hear because liberal democrats who say we want a public option, there has to be a public option, for instance the head of the progressive caucus really zeroed in on president obama still touting the public option. it's a signal it will be in the overhaul. if you talk to conservative democrats, they really pointed to president obama saying to congress you have to also be open to other ideas and they said that indicated some flexibility on his part. for the republican senators who are still at the bargaining table there at the senate finance committee, chuck grassley and olympia snow, two of the three, they really wanted ahead of time the public option and wanted president obama to really rule that out. we knew that he really wasn't going to do that. they took issue with that

afterwards. chuck grassley saying it was a missed opportunity. senator snow saying that she would have preferred it was taken off the table and obviously it wasn't. >> interesting. what's the fallout from the representative wilson heckling? >> there's a lot of talk about it. he was quick to apologize. there's still a lot of talk about it today. what we just heard from house speaker nancy pelosi just minutes ago in her weekly press conference she said he apologized. it's time to move on. obviously democrats aren't going to take -- aren't really going to try to take any action as we thought there was maybe some talk of but it's really a distraction for democrats. it's embarrassing for republicans. it's really kind of a pretty unusual thing. you really don't see a member of congress sort of yelling out at the president like that during one of these addresses to a joint session or one of these state of the union type speech.

>> all right. brianna keilar on capitol hill where all of the action is right now and our thanks to elaine quijano with the white house as well. you know, our i-reporters are weighing in this morning on president obama's speech and the lawmaker who heckled him. let's hear first from a conservative who voted for john mccain followed by an independent that voted for barack obama. >> i don't see how anyone can support it. the two things that i will support in this bill is malpractice, which first of all should not even be tolerated. that should have been taken care of a long time ago. the second thing is the excludeing of people with pre-existing issues. i myself have had brain surgery. i had a tumor. if health care companies put me down because of that, i might be pretty mad. >> honestly, he can apologize all he wants. no one will forget this tonight

and how he heckled the president and called him a liar. when it came to health care reform for illegal aliens here in america. okay. it's in there. did you read it, mr. wilson? >> joe wilson, a republican house member shouted "you lie" during president obama's health care reform speech to congress last night. talk about talk of the morning. town halls have been heated with passionate voters shouting down politicians often drowning out the debate. here is the question. has it all just gone too far? we want to hear from you. leave us your thoughts right now. let's get to it. cnn.com/tony. let's get to some of our top stories this morning. it's a number that's been a central part of the debate over health care this morning. the census bureau reporting there were 46.3 million americans without health

insurance in 2008. that's more than 15% of the nation's population. the census bureau says there were 45.7 million uninsured in 2007. police in california are expanding their search in the neighborhood where jaycee dugard was held for nearly 18 years. police searched his neighbor's home yesterday. garrido took care of this particular house for a brief period of time when it was vacant. police are trying to determine if dugard's accused captor and rapist, phillip garrido, is connected to other crimes. >> they went through everything. they went through my drawers. they went through my garbage. everything personal. >> i don't understand why they came here like that. there is no link between us and him. other than business and buying his printing products. >> reporter: garrido and his wife, nancy, pleaded not guilty to 29 felony charged related it to dugard's disappearance when she was 11. a lot of baseball fans can't wait for the yankees/orioles

game tomorrow night. it could be the game for the captain, derek jeter. last night he tied lou gehrig's record. a two-minute ovation for the yankee short stop followed. what a moment. it didn't end the way she wanted but melanie oudin's trip taught us all about the power of belief. i've seen first hand how america's dependence on foreign oil threatens our national security.

billions in oil profits finding their way to the terrorists we're fighting against. that's why washington needs to pass clean energy legislation. it will create good jobs, cut carbon pollution, and stop sending our dollars overseas to be used against us. call your senators, tell them to pass the clean energy bill. it's not just a question of american energy, it's a question of american power.

>> it's been hard. it's different than what i am used to. i'm used to going out and playing tennis. these two weeks have been more than that. lots of media. lots of different things happening and people knowing who

i am now and just a lot of things but, you know, all in all it was good for me and it's a good learning experience. >> a fairy tale run for oudin. larry smith joining us live. here's the thing, we talked about this yesterday. this is -- we love the oudin story. in analyzing this match as we did yesterday, it's not a surprising result given the kind of players these are. you have to go after shots against her and we saw oudin doing that and making more errors than we're used to. >> even if you're not a tennis fan, this is one stat you need to know. 43 unforced error s by oudin. when you have a seasoned player

with more experience, she's still a teenager, first to make it to a quarterfinal, a bright future, too. when you have that kind of player, you can't give that many shots back. it caught up to her last night. what a great run it was. >> talk about that run a bit. who did she beat along the way? rank 70th coming into this event. >> she'll be probably next week in the top 50. what a great year to go from virtual unknown and just turned pro to turning 18 here in a few weeks and being in the top 50. she beat a player that won three grand slam events. at wimbledon a big win. she's one of these players that i think again you understand why american tennis fans get so excited. we haven't seen this really since the william sisters came on the scene. >> i understand she was not even expecting to make it this far. didn't even have a hotel booked

through her quarterfinal match. >> right. got booted out of her hotel. one of those things that's too bad. it's one of those things that happen. they got through it. melanie learned these two weeks what it is like to have the c word attached to her and that's celebrity. we watched with her fans and friends at her tennis club and they said don't ask about her boyfriend. don't ask about her routine that she does. it's these kind of things that people want to know everything about melanie and that's a good practice. if she's going to be a huge success, you have to know how to handle those things. >> how bright is the future for this young woman? what's next? i was thinking about fed cup. what's next for her? >> fed cup she's already taken part at that. melanie right now said i'm not a celebrity. i'm a normal kid. i like to play wii and text on my phone but i have to be work harder to get to that next level. she's not satisfied with a

quarterfinal run. she wants to be one of the great. that's the best place you can be. we will see more of her in the future. >> we're tennis fans. needs to add a little more pop to her game and that's a game where you've got to have a couple of go-to weapons whether it's your big forehand or serve. she has to add more pop, would you agree? >> a good team around her. she has the work ethic. she's probably already thinking about how she can work on that. >> awesome. great to see you. what a pleasure to cover it. larry smith, appreciate it. more people in poverty and fewer people with health insurance. brand new numbers out today and we'll break them down. with new wanchai ferry?t che you can make it in just 14 minutes mmmh, orange chicken. great. i didn't feel like going out anyway (announcer) wanchai ferry. restaurant quality chinese in your grocer's freezer

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should health insurance coverage be mandatory? president obama says it should. in his speech last night he called for assessable and affordable insurance and everyone should be required -- it's a big one here, required to have coverage. >> now, even if we provide these affordable options, there may be those especially young and

healthy who want to take the risk and go without coverage. there may still be companies that refuse to do right by their workers by giving them coverage. the problem is such irresponsible behavior cost all of the rest of us money. if there are affordable options and people still don't sign up for health insurance, it means we pay for these people's expensive emergency room visits. if some businesses don't provide workers health care, it forces the rest of us to pick up the tab when the workers get sick. and gives those businesses an unfair advantage over their competitors. and unless everybody does their pa part, many of the insurance reforms we see especially requiring insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions just can't be achieved. that's why under my plan individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance just as most states require you to carry auto insurance. >> the lengthy recession pushing millions of americans into

poverty and pushing health care further out of reach for people. cnn's christine romans is here. new findings from the census out today. first of all, good to see you. good to see you in your house. take exception with me. i've been using a number and then i will take exception with my team, a number we've been quoting so far this morning reflecting on the census data talking about the number of people uninsured in the country. go ahead. >> you'll hear people say 46.3 americans are without health insurance. it's 46.3 million people in this country who do not have health insurance. some of those people were born in this country. some were not born in this country. some here legally some illegally. without health insurance 46.3 million people up 600,000 folks from 2007. not really a surprise since so many companies have been laying people off. they've been losing their employer based coverage and so

they are dropping into this group of uninsured. >> that's an important distinction as to who is uninsured here. it's central to this debate as who who we want to cover moving forward. you will hear republican senators say it's not really 46 million people. 46 million americans. >> as the president says, you will not include people in the country illegally into the pool then you are not really covering the uninsured co ed completely what they're talking about here. >> so many people are working in this country illegally. we know that. >> millions. >> in some way, shape or form are probably getting some type of coverage. >> federal law is that if someone is in the country illegally and they have an emergency or they need emergency life sustaining health care they get it at an emergency room. this is the way it is. federal law already. insurance coverage though is another matter all together. >> what else are we learning from this census data? some interesting findings on

poverty. >> this is what we found out for the first time in five years the first significant increase in poverty in this country. highest since 1997. that's 39.8 million people. that's about 13.2%. in case you wonder, a family of four, the poverty rate is $22,025 for a family of four. tough to live on that in this country. also quickly, median income fell. 50,303 is down 1,800. that's a family making $1,800 less a year last year. it hurts. it hurts. >> good to see you. >> you're welcome. >> in your house. back here tomorrow. let's play some more. >> i would love to. certainly no coincidence that so many people are being pushed into poverty. unemployment lines remain long these days and job openings as you know particularly trying to find a job scarce. susan lisovicz on the floor of the new york stock exchange with

the latest check of the labor market. good to see you, susan. >> reporter: good to see you. 550,000 americans joined the unemployment line last week. that is a huge number but it is down from the previous week. another huge number, 6.1 million americans continuing to get unemployment benefits. if you factor in the extended benefits that so many states are doing now in this long recession, that number would be 9 million. what we are seeing, tony, the silver lining here, is the face of layoffs is declining and that's one of the reasons you see the dow industrials, the nasdaq, s&p 500 higher for a fifth straight day. we're talking about modest gains here. the dow, nasdaq, s&p, all basically at their highs for the year. >> we'll take it. we're following. we're keeping score. this is positive news. we'll take it. there aren't many but i

understand there are somely hir days. >> reporter: the labor department says there were just under 2.5 million job openings in july. think about it. at least 14 million americans out of work, that's six people apl applying for every job out there. education, health care, that's a growth area. what kind of jobs? physical therapist, all of those baby boomers who are weekend warriors who throw out their shoulder or knee. there's a demand for those kinds of jobs. occupational therapist, registered nurses, the group that president obama was speaking to earlier this morning. what other kinds of jobs? professional business services. specifically computer and mathematical services. these are high paying jobs. this is the future. this is -- these are the kind of jobs that will replace

manufacturing jobs. tech jobs. the computer goes down, can you fix the computer? i don't think so. and progress slows down considerably. we're seeing growth. gains there not enough to offset the losses elsewhere but these are areas of growth and hopefully we'll see these trends accelerate as the economy recovers. >> christine and i are dying up here right now because somehow or another i have jack eed up m computer here. i think christine did this and i can't fix it. >> i rest my case. >> can someone please call tech support for tony. tony needs tech support. >> appreciate it. thank you. you know, it has been a year since the collapse of lehman brothers read all about it from those who witnessed it. a special report at cnnmoney.com. all right. let's get to some of our top

stories. a man wanted for a series of robberies is believed to have struck again. police suspect 37-year-old chad shaver in of robbing a bank. >> obviously he's a huge threat to the public and he's an armed safety threat. we want everyone to take caution. >> we can tell you that he's suspected of ten robberies in at least three states. five girls died at a stampede at a school in new delhi. it happened when students packed both ends of a narrow stairway. ellen degeneres says she has no plans to give up her day job now that she's signed on to replace paula abdul as a judge on "american idol." i heard the humoa rumor. she admit to having no formal

music training and hopes to bring the people's point of view to the judging table. health care choices up to your employer? the government? or you? hln's money expert clark howard joins me next right here in the "cnn newsroom." and then there was the stuff he wanted... like a new microwave. and because of walmart's unbeatable prices, we were able to get it all. ...and then some. set them up for success-- for less. save money. live better. walmart.

a quick note here before we get to hln's clark howard. we are anticipating getting a

piece of tape in from representative joe wilson offering some clarification, explaining his comments during the president's speech last night. "you lie" was the comment at the heart of the controversy right now. we're anticipating getting some comment from him at some point here in the next couple of minutes. we may be talking to clark when that tape comes in. we will roll it hot for you as soon as we get it. okay. let's get to clark howard. are you sick of all of the politics, back and forth in this health care debate? what if we could take politics out of it and focus on you, the consumer? that's what clark howard is trying to do. he has a view that you might not have considered. clark, good to see you. thanks for your time today. >> i had so much time pretending i was the president on radio and giving my address to congress, which was very different than the president's address. >> clark, can i play just -- i'm

going get you to explain some of the points in your plan but let's have folks hear just a little bit of it from yesterday. >> okay. >> if we rely on the government or on our employer to decide what coverage is good for us, or what they will provide and what they won't provide, then we are giving the employer or the federal government the power of illness and health, life and death over us based on the coverages that they provide. >> all right. i'm teeing it up for you. take it away. what's your plan? >> my plan is actually fairly simple. it's not a revolution. it's a devolution that we go back to where there's individual responsibility. you know, it's really an accident of history that large employers provide health care for their employees and it goes way, way back during a time of

wage price controls and it was only as a way of back door giving employees a pay raise that we have employer provided health coverage. it's in an era that so many of us work for small employers, work for ourselves, or big companies that used to use them for a lifetime send us to a cleaners because they don't need us anymore and we're out. what i recommend is that even if employers subsidize your health care or the government does, that you and i buy health coverage just like we buy homeowners insurance, auto insurance, anything we buy at a store, we make the decision, we buy the level of coverage that we want. >> do you need some capital from the government to get your plan started? >> no question you would have to take money feds are using to subsidize medicaid, both states and federal government, because you give people vouchers. you give people vouchers based

on their income sliding scales so that people have a subsidy so they can buy their own coverage. the key is personal responsibility. my big deal is that you have 12 standardized plans. so that i as an individual can pick. do i want an hmo or ppo or the simple coverage, the intermediate coverage or the really, really fancy coverage in each category and i can easily comparison shop whatever coverage i want because everyone coverages would be the same for whatever plan i choose. the only difference would be the premium and reputation of that insurer provider. >> what are the safeguards to keep the insurance companies from dropping when you you get sick? >> that's a good question. you don't let them. no more can you cherry pick. >> let me have you hang on for just a moment. we warned folks we were getting this statement from representative wilson. i believe it's coming in hot now

and we'll come back to the very question. don't go anywhere. let's roll it. >> what's leadership said to you this morning? >> last night i heard from the leadership that they wanted me to contact the white house and say that my statements were inappropriate. i did. very grateful that the white house in talking with them they indicated that they appreciated the call and that we needed to have a civil discussion about the health care issues and i certainly agree with that. and so i'm happy to discuss the health care issues and in particular on the issue which i think is very important of whether the bills cover -- would include illegal aliens or not. my background in that is i was aware that there were two different amendments on the bill which would have provided for verification of persons having

citizenship. one was in the ways and means committee. one was on energy and commerce committee. and both of those were defeated overwhelmingly. they were almost party line votes. several democrats voted with us. the congressional resource services has indicated that indeed the bills that are before congress would include illegal aliens and i think this is wrong. we need to be discussing issues specifically to help the american people. and that would not include illegal aliens. these are people -- i'm for immigration -- legal immigration. i've been an immigration attorney. people who have come to our country and violated laws, we should not be providing full health care services. >> there is talk you tweeted something like this was premedicated.

your tweet did seem to say i'll go to d.c. to respond to that. >> i will tell you this, it was spontaneous. when he stated about not coveri aliens, when i knew we had those two amendments, and i say that respectfully. and we need to discuss the issues, and i'm happy to do that. and i'm going to run go vote. >> representative -- representative wilson addressing the controversy from his own comments yesterday during the president's speech in joint session of congress. where he said to the president, well, we'll deal with it in greater detail with josh levs in the next hour. i want to get back to clark howard here. and, clark, when we broke away from our discussion, you were talking about essentially your idea is for an individual market where we can -- >> yes. >> -- go and we can shop for health care insurance. i was asking you what provisions are in your plan, your idea here, moving forward to keep

insurance companies from dropping you when you get really sick and for giving you something that is affordable if you have a pre-existing condition. >> that is a wonderful question. if i am covered already and i get an illness, the insurer can't dump me. if i choose not to have any health coverage, then i get sick, it is unreasonable to expect an insurer to suddenly say, okay, we'll cover you. >> yes. >> so, i think it's a reasonable thing that if somebody chooses to go without health coverage, even with the subsidy that would be available to people who are lower income and then i get sick, the insurer should be able to put in a waiting period of a year or two before that illness would be covered. otherwise everybody would wait until they got sick, and then they'd buy coverage. you know, what we have to look at in america is that we are spending one-sixth of your national wealth on health care. and we have the worst result in the developed world.

so, it's like there's all this sand in the gears. >> yes. >> and i believe the real cause of the sand is that i, as an individual, am not being put in charge of my own health and welfare. >> got you. >> i think the responsibility comes back to me. >> one final point here. it is -- and we're running out of time, but i need you to respond to this. >> okay. >> it is just too radical an approach. too many gears here would be gummed up trying to do this, to make your plan happy. >> change is tough, but if we continue on the path that we're on with health care, we're going to bankrupt the country, and we're going to make ourselves uncompetitive with our competitors around the world. i want america to be in first place in the world, and we got to get the health care thing working and a market system, or else we put ourselves at a disadvantage against the countries that we compete against. >> yeah. i love that you're taking a stab at it. all ideas on the table, all-in. clark, good to see you, sir.

thanks for your time. >> thank you. you can see clark howard on hln every saturday and sunday at noon and 4:00 p.m. eastern. and just a reminder, you can get all the information and read the proposed health care bills, all of them, by going to cnn.c cnn.com/healthca cnn.com/healthcare. you've heard the shout-out and you've seen the reaction. but what's really behind "the lie" comment. we've just heard it's spontaneous. our truth squad finds out next. this bar is an excellent source of fiber. there's no fiber in this. tastes too good. there is fiber. [ chuckle ] no. i can't taste the fiber in this chocolate. they have 35% of your daily value. hmm. oh, samples. hmm. autobahn. wackenschdol. fiber one chewy bars. cardboard no. delicious yes. and when my symptoms-the coughing, wheezing, tightness in my chest came back- i knew i had to see my doctor. he told me i had choices in controller medicines.

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it was spontaneous. it was when he stated, as he did, about not covering illegal aliens, when i knew we had those two amendments. and i say that respectfully. and we need to discuss the issues, and i'm happy to do that, and i'm going to run go vote. >> okay. let's bring in our josh levs. for a little truth squad check. you heard the statement there from representative wilson. >> yeah. >> and let's talk about it, josh. >> tony, we got to start off by saying what you and i talked about before. multiple bills in various stages. so much is predictive. fact checking health care is never as clean-cut as either side claims it to be with some of these statements. but we have really important facts i can tell you most of what he was talking about there. let's start off with this. with the truth squad we have looked at this before. there's one bill in general you find a lot of people pointing to, that's the house bill. i will show it to you right here. there's a particular point where

it specifically talks about subsidies and it says nothing will allow federal payments on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully president -- present in the united states. >> yep. >> so, mr. obama and some of his defenders and others who like this plan, look it, it specifically says this money cannot go to helping people who are illegally here. you also heard mr. wilson refer to this, which is the congressional research report. i have an important quote from there, a nonpartisan group, i know it's tiny type, i can't change that. but what they say here the house bill does not contain any restrictions on noncitizens participating in the exchange. whether they are here legally or illegally. now, i want you to understand what this means, so let's get straight to this graphic. there's this thing called an exchange, and part of what they're calling for under obama's plan, consumers would have the ability to take a look at this exchange and to choose whether they want this plan or to choose a plan through the exchange. let's go to the next screen here. what you'll see here is illegal immigrants, according to the

congressional research service, illegal immigrants would be able to buy, under this plan. but they are also saying that millions of illegal immigrants already do buy their own health insurance, tony. so, when you take a look at this situation, you do have language that specifically says there's some things that two apply to the illegal immigrants. but what you heard him refer to there is this broader issue, which is how do you enforce any of it, tony? it is true there were amendments that democrats rejected. republicans wanted tougher, stricter rules saying there's no way that they can get away with it and democrats rejected it. that's why you have this back and forth. how it will ultimately play out, we'll have to see. >> thank you. >> thank you. we are flying this hour and looking ahead to what we're working on in the next hour for "cnn newsroom." president obama's health care message, we watched you watching the president. we'll get ideas from real folks on his ideas to revamp the nation's health care system. and our dr. sanjay gupta takes a ride with combat medic in afghanistan.

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very quickly now. senator max baucus, he is the chair of the powerful senate finance committee, is talking about health care reform right now. let's have a listen. >> no, that's very helpful. on the other hand, the president is talking about something totally different that would not be helpful, but we're --

we're -- we're very close to being in sync here. and that's confidence building. >> when are you guys going to tackle the pay-fors and the issues that you have with that? >> well, we've pretty much tackled it. there are no issues there really. it's -- most of this is just finding it. it's medicare -- medicaid, states. we don't want -- we don't want to come up with a proposal which is going to put an undue burden on the states. it's issues like that. the president didn't mention that last night, so that is an issue that we are -- >> senator, have you gotten any pushback on individual mandate and the fines that would be imposed on people? >> no, there's no pushback on the concept with respect to what the penalty someone has to pay if he or she does not -- i mean,

we have hardship cases and ways for people to get out and also minimums on -- make sure the premiums do not cost more than a certain percent of income. and with respect to fines, it's, again, trying to find something that's fair. we have not discussed that. we're not getting any pushback, nor has there been a discussion. not today. >> thanks. >> thanks, guys. >> one more and i got to go. >> what kind of projects -- >> all right, senator max baucus, he chairs the senate finance committee, which, as you know, yesterday decided to move forward with its proposal, the baucus proposal, on health care reform, to get it marked up. what's interesting here is i've got to tell you that everyone i've talked to recently, including this morning, on the health care reform front is saying that this is the piece of legislation that has the very best chance of passing.

so, we're going to continue to focus a lot of our attention on the proposals coming out of the senate finance committee. fresh off of his prime-time push to revive health care reform, president obama makes another pitch for overhauling the system. the president is trying to regain the momentum and persuade congress to act. he spoke to members of the american nurses association about half an hour ago. >> let me just explain -- plain more briefly than i did last night what health insurance reform will mean for ordinary americans. simply put, it will mean that as folks go about their everyday lives, one thing they won't have to worry about as much is their health care. it will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. it will provide insurance to those who don't. and it will slow the growth of health care costs for our families, our businesses and our government. house minority whip, eric cantor, is speaking now.

we want to give you a listen to what he is saying. let's go there now. >> and what we heard is much of what the president has been out saying before. in fact, there were at least 100 speeches prior in which this president talked about health care. not much new came out of this speech. the president did say he is open to the republicans bringing forth ideas. well, i'm going to take him at his word, just like we attempted to take him at his word when we began the process in january over the question of a spending stimulus bill that was in the makings then. i'm hopeful that this process will result in a better product for sure, especially as we're dealing with something that is so personal to the american families. now, if the president is serious and wants our participation and wants our input, i think we

ought to start in three directions. one, is to provide and make sure that the american people know that we're going to guarantee that there will be no government substitute for the decision-making power that patients and doctors have over their health care. two, that there will be a guarantee for the american people that there will be no government rationing, that there will be no government-forced discrimination, on any basis, as far as health care access and delivery is concerned. and, third, to guarantee to the american people that we're not going to break the bank in passing a health care bill. people are very cognizant of the enormous amount of debt that's being piled up by this town, and they're asking the question all over the country, who is going to pay for all of this. so, if we can get straight on these type of prerequisites and

have some substantive agreement on that, there are some things that we can work together on. you know, the president mentioned senator mccain last night and his proposals that had to deal with pre-existing conditions. these are individuals who may face a disease such as m.s., coen what have you, they find themselves in the individual market and unable to afford health insurance. senator mccain has a proposal, sometimes called high-risk pools at the state level. i like the term universal access programs. these are efforts i think we can have bipartisan agreement on and deal with the question of pre-existing conditions. the other issue is the issue of portability. the president was right in saying that you shouldn't have to necessarily lose your health care if you lose your job.

well, let's go ahead and work on that. we can do that. we can provide the flexibility in the insurance laws to make sure that no one has to lose their health care if they lose their job. and, lastly, the area of medical liability reform that senator kyl mentioned. i, too, was very disappointed by the proposals being suggested by this president and that somehow we're going to be able to accomplish real medical liability reform, the end of lawsuit abuse, by somehow administratively engaging in pilot projects. >> we are -- as expected, as anticipated -- getting more and more reaction to the president's speech last night from republicans and democrats. house michart whip, eric cantor, there, planning to take the president up on his pledge that if there are good ideas out there, we want to send them in. eric cantor says there should be no government rationing in health care moving forward, no

government system should stand between you and your doctor, and no new system should break the bank. and you also heard the house minority whip talking about the health care proposals from senator john mccain. we will certainly explore those in the days ahead. lawmakers from both parties really dissecting, debating last night's speech by president obama. house speaker, nancy pelosi, applauded the president's call for action. >> probably the most important initiative any of us will ever be a part of in the congress. members know that responsibility. they understand it, and they're ready to work to achieve that goal. of health insurance for all americans that is accessible, quality, and affordable. republican senator john mccain says the president didn't go far enough, especially on the issue of malpractice reform. on "cnn's larry king live," mccain said republicans still have concerns. >> there are a lot of things we

can agree on, larry. there's many things that we can agree on and work together. republicans want reform. we know that the system is broken, particularly medicare, but we are very concerned about the cost. we're very concerned about the public option. frankly, some tests on medical malpractice reform doesn't get it. two-thirds of those two watched president obama's health care speech now say they favor his proposals. that's according to a new cnn/opinion research corporation poll. bear with me as we work through these numbers here. it shows 67% of the president's audience favor the plan he laid out. going into the speech, only 53% did. those opposed to the plan dropped to 29% from 36%. when asked if the president clearly stated his health care goals, 72% say yes. 26%, no. now, bear in mind, the survey only reflects the views of americans who watched the speech. and as typically occurs with

presidential addresses, you know where i'm going here, members of his party were more likely to tune in than members of the opposition party. one thing lawmakers from both sides of the aisle agree on is this -- it was disrespectful of south carolina congressman joe wilson to heckle president obama. wilson came out just minutes ago to discuss what happened. >> well, i last night heard from the leadership that they wanted me to contact the white house and state that my statements were inappropriate. i did. i'm very grateful that the white house, in talking with them, they indicated that they appreciated the call and that we needed to have a civil discussion about the health care issues. and i certainly agree with that. okay, so let's take you back now to the offensive outburst during president obama's speech. >> there are also those who claim that our reform efforts

would insure illegal immigrants. this, too, is false. the reforms -- the reforms i'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. >> you lie. >> that's not true. >> wilson's opponent in next year's election raised more than $200,000 last night. you can read president obama's plan for yourself. it is posted online at whitehouse.gov. details are spelled out on the president's promise to provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance, provide insurance to those who don't, and lower the cost of health care for everyone. first-time claims for unemployment insurance fell by 26,000 last week. 550,000 americans, still a big number, filed for new benefits, down from 576,000 in the previous week. and the number of households threatened with foreclosure held steady last month.

more than 358,000 foreclosure-related filings were recorded in august, down 0.5% from july, an indication government programs to help ohm homeowners may be starting to have a bit of an impact. now, a closer look at our top story. what happens now with health care reform after the latest push by the president? lisa desjardin is the capitol hill correspondent for cnn radio. we are seeing senators and representatives come forward, reacting to the president's speech last night, but what's going on behind closed doors? >> reporter: well, you know, right behind me, there is actually a long line of lobbyists trying to get into the senate office buildings as well. a flurry of activity. let's break down what's happening as democrats are essentially on, let's say, the football field of health care and they still have to figure out what their plays are going to be. number one, what's happening today?

democrats are behind closed doors caucusing among themselves. at this moment, tony, the house and ways committee members, democrats, democrats only, are meeting to try to form a game plan. ways and means, as you know, those are the money guys. they will try to figure out how do they lift this legislation to the next spot. how do they get it to the house floor. that's going on right now. now, later today, key democrats are getting the big call down pennsylvania avenue. they will be going to the white house. we are told by sources that house majority leader, steny hoyer, will be meeting with the president. he's significant not only because he's number two in the house, but he's also a key moderate. he doesn't always say the same things as speaker pelosi does. so, he will be down there at the white house, and we're told perhaps with some other pivotal moderate democrats. >> i see. >> reporter: last thing, flurry of news conferences. you just had eric cantor on. and, you know, tony, that was actually the third health care news conference we've had today. we've got one more from senate democrats. it really is just a blitz. >> this is interesting because you mentioned the work that's

going on now. the house ways and means committee, and this is important, because it seems moving forward -- and, lisa, i'm going to tap into your reservoir of knowledge here. >> reporter: all right, bring it. >> all right, here we go. what i am hearing from stake holders in this debate, we're talking about hospitals, we're talking about doctors, and we're talking about insurance companies, what i heard just this morning from one of those stakeholders is that moving forward, the baucus bill out of the senate finance committee is the only bill -- forget about what's happening on the house side -- is the only bill that can pass. so that perhaps the strategy that is being discussed right now on the house side is how we take our language and bring it more in line with what the senate finance committee is working on and drafting right now. >> reporter: that is certainly a very popular sentiment. but, again, going back to the football analogy, you know, you always have a top team coming into the game, and that is not

always the team that wins. if you talk to house democrats, they will say that they think their bill is just as strong. they've got that public option in it. and the senate finance doesn't. but house democrats say they can't get a bill passed, some of them say this, without that public option. is that true? we don't know. but the truth is, in the end, there's two players on the field here. the house will have a bill. the senate will have a bill. that senate bill will probably look more like that senate finance committee bill. the advantage goes to the senate a little bit, because it is tougher to pass things in the senate. but the truth is, even though it's very popular right now to say that the senate finance committee will be more like the final bill, i'm not so sure yet. i would lean that direction if i was a las vegas odds maker. >> yes. >> reporter: but i think a lot has to play out, still. >> send me notes. let me know what you're -- >> reporter: you got it. we'll make some up. >> i appreciate it, lisa, thank you. >> reporter: you got it. yesterday i spoke with a couple of people who feel very strongly about leltth cahealth reform and asked them what they

want to tell the president. they're back today. we're back with this discussion. kristen, good to see you, kathy, good to see you.

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boy, just a flurry of activity on capitol hill right now. democrats holding news conferences. republicans holding news conferences right now talking about health care reform and the president's speech. you're looking at house minority leader, john boehner, speaking now. let's have a listen. >> -- according to cbo and others, millions of americans could be forced out of their

plan, so it may not require you to change your plan, but if you look at the employer mandate and what it means on employers, it's clear that some number of employers are going to drop their plan, pay their 8% tax, and their employees will be forced into the government option. secondly, if you look at the language in the plan, all employer-provided plans would have to have their plan approved by the department of labor and the new health choices czar within the first five years. the result of that is that a lot of plans offered by employers are going to end up being dropped as a result of that requirement. and so there are organizations that have estimated tens of millions of americans could, in fact, be forced out of their employer-provided coverage into the government plan.

thirdly he said, illegal immigrants wouldn't get government benefits. but the nonpartisan congressional research service on august 26th says, in part, "hr-3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitizens participating in and paying for coverage available through the exchange. whether the noncitizens are legally or illegally present or in the united states temporarily or permanently." and this crs report makes it pretty clear. secondly, there were two opportunities in committee for house democrats to make clear that illegal immigrants would not be covered by putting in requirements to show citizenship. both of those amendments were, in fact, rejected. and then fourthly -- >> okay. we are going to continue to monitor the comments from the

house minority leader, john boehner. we're particularly interested in the question-and-answer session that will follow this statement, and we'll turn around a bit of that for you. we are also listening to a wide range of voices and views on health care reform. and we want to bring back two members from yesterday's fiery panel to talk about the president's speech last night. kathy mcclure, founder of votehealthcare.org which promotes guaranteed, affordable health care. kathy, good to see you. >> it's great to be back. >> she is in our atlanta studio. and kristen hawkins, her son was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and she opposes the current health reform plans. kristen, good to see you again. >> thank you. >> kristen is joining us from washington. all right, let's see here. kathy, let me start with you. did you hear what you wanted to hear from the president last night? >> yes, i did. i thought the president did an excellent job of putting forth a reasonable plan for bringing quality, affordable health care to every american. what i heard him say was that he

was going to bring security and stability, not only to the people who currently have good health insurance coverage through their employers, but also the promise of security and stability for working americans who can't buy affordable coverage at this time because either they're individuals who have pre-existing conditions as, like i explained yesterday, my children -- >> yes. >> -- or because they're entrepreneurs, farmers, a whole host of people who would benefit from the exchanges and the public option. >> all right, we're going to mix it up in just a second. kristen, did you hear what you wanted to hear from the president last night? >> no, i didn't hear any specifics. what the president is talking about sounds great, there are great ideas, but when you look at the practicality of putting these things into action, it did not happen. he didn't address the rationing aspect of what will happen when you do not have enough money to pay for care. he said there will be a provision in the bill that if

costs start to outweigh the savings, they're going to start makining cuts. my question is when are the cuts going to happen? who will stop getting care? if you look at great britain, this is happening there right now, they've run out of money and they are making cuts. and people aren't getting quality health care because they don't have any money. >> all right, let's do this, ladies. because this is the moment right here, this is the back-and-forth right here. i want you to talk to one another a little bit. now, kristen, you absolutely believe there needs to be some reform in the system -- >> exactly. >> -- that it is unsustainable the way it is operating now. and kathy, you definitely believe there needs to be reform in the system. where do you agree? kristen, start, where do you agree with kathy? >> sure, i definitely agree. there should not be pre-existing clauses. people like gunner, my son, either he has to stay on my health insurance or he'll have to get a job that provides health insurance so he'll keep

his health insurance. one, we need to eliminate that. i think we all agree that all americans should have quality, affordable, accessible health care. i think this disagreement comes as to who is going to administer that. and right now what's going on in congress, they're saying the government's going to administer. the government is going to come in and through the government health insurance exchange tell us which plans to buy, force us to buy plans. i believe we go back to the capitalistic system. >> jump in here, katcatkathy. >> i would love to address her concerns. we are not headed to remotely what is happening in canada or great britain. i want to allay kristen's fears on this point, because i believe she has been given bad information. that is not a part -- >> don't -- >> kristen, hang on. let me help you for a moment. kathy, let's keep it -- she's doing her own research. she's getting her own information. just to the extent you can, tell me where you agree with her, not

where she's flat-out wrong and getting misinformation. >> where i agree with her, we all need affordable health care. what i understand is kristen currently has coverage through her husband's employment with -- at the state of west virginia. and what i know is that the -- that the hr-3200 and other bills explicitly provide that people in kristen's situation would be able to retain their coverage, as it exists today, so i want to reassure her on that. and then also to point out the flip side here. the flip side is what happens if kristen's husband loses his job? >> or what happens if the government comes in, passing nationalized health care and my husband's employer says, you know what, it's only an 8% fine, so we'll drop employer health insurance and now everybody has to go to the national government exchange -- >> okay. >> -- and now we're thrown in with everybody and then we lose our health care. >> it's my promise.

we'll do it incrementally. we don't have enough time. we never seem to have enough time, but you're both so passionate about it. let's do it incrementally, the way they're working through it on the hill, and let's see if we can get to some common ground on moving forward. both sides agree? >> sure. i think it sounds great. >> kathy, kristen, i appreciate it. i got to roll. thank you. if your insurance company cancels your health insurance policy, what are your options?

i'm in gerri's house. thousands of americans have found themselves with a canceled health insurance policy, just when they needed it the most.

and california insurers paid out about $19 million in fines for marooning policyholders who had fallen ill. boy, we need to spend some time on this. our personal finance editor, gerri will list, is here. gerri, good to see you. what do we need to know here? >> insurers call it recision, that's when they cancel your policy when they were misled about something on your past. let's say you were hospitalized for heart pains and you don't report it to your insurer and you don't tell them about it when you get on their plan. they look back and say, you should have told us about it. but it happens the opposite way, too, there was a california insurer who was actually fined $1 million for incenting employees, giving them bonuses to find ways to kick them off their policies. >> really? >> yes. so, what you need to know here, typically -- typically -- the insurers have about two years to look back into your history to find if there's something that's not right in your documentation

and do the recision. that's the word. recision. >> all right, so what can you do here, gerri, if your policy has, in fact, been cancelled? >> well, you find out the reason why, right? go to your insurer, you and say, why was i dropped? what was the reason? and then you appeal. the right person to appeal to is the state health insurance department. those are the regulators, those are the people who are looking over the shoulders of the insurers. then when you do apply for coverage, go to a different carrier. because at the end of the day, look, you sort of sullied your name, even if it wasn't your fault, with that insurer. >> sure. >> if i can give you a little bit of advice on these applications. >> please. >> if you are filling out applications with your insurer, if you don't know the right date, if you are unsure of the doctor's name, do not put it on the application forms, because that can be a reason to get you off the policy, to rescind your coverage so that you would have no coverage at all. make sure everything you put on those applications is absolutely right. >> got one more for you. what happens if you've been -- if your claim has been denied?

what do you do? what are your options? >> let me tell you, the california attorney's general office found in that state 40% -- 4 in 10 claims -- were denied, which i think is a huge number out there. >> yeah. >> so, the good news is, there is an appeals process for this typically. you appeal directly to your insurer. you usually have 60 days to do that. and then you got to make sure you got all the paperwork. >> right. >> you need all the information, all the data about your bills, if you were referred to the doctor. you have to have all that on hand as well. >> and who keeps all that stuff? but you have to. you got to have it. >> you have to have it. log the calls. it's all about having it in writing. sending everything in writing, you know, maybe certify that mail when you send it. >> that's interesting. that's interesting. and the e-mail address, because we're going to do the e-mail bag right here tomorrow. we're going to answer questions right here from new york, right? >> i'm so excited about it. gerri@cnn.com, and just let me say, saturday morning, 9:30, "your bottom line," join us.

we've got a bang-up show coming. we'll obviously be talking about health care, because it's the story of the week, but we're also talking about the important topic of free stuff. free stuff! that you don't pay for that you can get gratis. i know you like that topic. >> hey, free is for me. and the other thing is we've got some of the best-of moments of you and elmo. look, we got a lot of e-mail at the blog, right? >> yes, you do. >> cnn.com/tony. >> really good questions. >> folks want to see more of the moments you and elmo. looking forward to it tomorrow. last night the president didn't get a very positive reception from the republican side of the room, so what are they proposing? we're taking a closer look. floats through the air.as n but with the strength of zyrtec ® , the fastest, 24-hour allergy relief, i promise not to wait as long to go for our ride. with zyrtec ® i can love the air ™ .

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all right. 37 minutes after the hour, everyone. welcome back to the "cnn newsroom." i'm tony harris. from new york city today, we are just moments away, actually, from getting a piece of tape that we're going to show you

from the president, his meeting a short time ago with members of his cabinet. obviously he will be imploring his cabinet to keep the foot on the pedal here, driving this issue on health care reform. so, we're getting that in just a couple of seconds. and once we've viewed the president's thoughts, we will talk to josh levs. but let's take you to the president and get his thoughts. >> good morning, everybody. we just had an excellent and informative cabinet meeting. secretaries clinton and gates provided an overview of our current national security posture. secretary geithner discussed some of the both promise and peril of our current economic situation. but we spent a large portion of our time discussing the critical importance of health care reform. this is an issue that touches on

all of the agencies that are represented at this table. hilda solis at the department of labor understands that it is very difficult for workers to obtain raises of any significance if increased productivity is all going into increased health care costs. gary locke, department of commerce, is constantly hearing stories from businesses small and large alike about ever-escalating premiums and the need to get control of our health care costs. bob gates, one of the biggest parts of his budget is -- are his health care costs. and so we all understand that this is an issue that the country is ready to deal with. as i said last night, i am confident the plan that we've put forward is the right plan for the american people. i continue to be open to

suggestions and ideas from all quarters, house members, senate members, democrats, republicans, outside groups. what we cannot do is stand pat. what we can't do is accept a status quo that is bankrupting families, businesses, and our nation. i will not tolerate us continuing to pay more for less in health care. the time is right, and we are going to move aggressively to get this done. and every member of this cabinet is invested. i want to particularly thank secretary sebelius and my health care team for the extraordinary work that they've done getting us this far, but this administration understands that this is important for all of our agencies, all of our constituencies, and we are going to make a full-court press in the coming month to make sure that we go ahead and get this

done for the american people. all right? >> thanks, guys. >> when you said that -- [ inaudible ]? >> yes, i do. i'm a big believer that we all make mistakes. he apologized quickly and without equivocation, and i'm appreciative of that. i do think that -- as i said last night -- we have to get to the point where we can have a conversation about big, important issues that matter to the american people without vitriol, without name calling, without the assumption of the worst in other people's motives. we are all americans. we all want to do best for our country. we've got different ideas, but for the most part, we have the same aims, which is to make sure that people who work hard in this country and act responsibly are able to get good jobs, good

wages, raise their families, make sure those kids have a good education, that they are protected from misfortune or accident by having health care and retirement security in place. we want to keep people safe, and that's why our national security team is so important. our goals are generally the same. whether we're democrats or republicans. and, in fact, most americans don't even think about those labels all that much. they are turned off when they see people using wild accusations, false claims, name calling, sharply criticizing others, and i hope that some of the fever breaks a little bit. the media can also be helpful by not giving all the attention to the loudest or shrillest voices and try to stay a little bit

more focused on the issues at hand. >> when you talked with -- >> all right? i talk to everybody. >> thank you. >> thank you, guys. >> absolutely. all right? thank you very much. >> there you have it. the president comments from his meeting with his cabinet earlier, and that tape just in to cnn. the president noting that he is accepting the apology from representative joe wilson, who screamed out something a bit inappropriate last night. he admits it in his own words. he has apologized for it. the president there saying he does, in fact, accept that apology. let's get to a couple of our other top stories. we should tell you that president obama, again, urged lawmakers to stop the bickering and to pass reform this year. the president spoke to the american nurses association stressing several reform themes, including the need for coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions. firefighters in california, in day 16 of battling that

massive wildfire north of los angeles. it is now 62% contained after charring 250 square miles and burning 78 homes. backfires have been started on the eastern flank to keep it from roaring up mt. wilson. and in new delhi, india, today, what a sad story, at least five girls died in a stampede at a government school. 29 others were injured. authorities say the stampede began after students packed both ends of a narrow stairway. we're back with more in a minute. that maybe has to choose between paying their credit card or putting food on the table. our main objective is to reach out to the customers that are falling behind on their payments. a lot of customers are proud and happy that bank of america actually has a solution to help them out. i listen. that's the first thing i do is i listen. you know what, what happened? what put you in this situation? we always want to make sure that we're doing

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47 minutes after the hour. welcome back, everyone, to the "cnn newsroom." tony harris, in new york city. what are republicans offering when it comes to health care reform? some lawmakers -- did you see this last night -- were waving pamphlets during the president's speech. or josh levs is here to show us how you can read up what's in these gop proposals, josh? >> and we actually heard a website as well and the republican response and that's actually the easiest way to read up on it. gop.gov. it's technically healthcare.gop.gov. they are making it clear what to do. they are linking to several

different examples of republican plans. and it gets into the tiny little type down there. i'll take you to a few of them to see what it offered. this is one group showing the basics in the republican plan. a lot of the time when you take a look at these, tony, a lot of them revolve around lowering costs. you see a lot about tax breaks and tax incentives. you see it from the republican study committee as well, they have something called putting patients first and one here up on one congressman's website. but, again, it takes you to what a group of republican congressmen are suggesting. and you do see the same themes come up often, accommodating and accessibility and making it more affordable. i urge you to check out what's there at gop.gov and decide for yourself. i guess that's why any are pushing it last night because there are so many different plans to look at from that one site. back to you. >> all right, josh, appreciate it, thank you, sir. a lot of you were telling us about what you thought about the president's speech last night and whether the debate is getting a bit out of hand. here's a bit of a sampling from what some of ul are saying to us.

from mike, only the future will tell if the president is a liar, but at least joe wilson didn't throw his shoes. and from cheryl, the issues surrounding health care reform need to be baited. however, the debate should be courteous and factual. and from mike b., this is the beauty of america. you reap what you sow. of course, you can always send us your thoughts and go to cnn.com/tony and give us your feedback. cue up the music. the cnn express crossing paths with the t.e.a. party express today. we're going to get the latest.

♪ taking it to the streets we've got to hustle, a lot to get to before the top of the hour and kyra phillips. ali velshi is on the cnn express, taking it to the streets in scranton, p.a. also there today, how about this, the t.e.a. party express, the group opposed to government

bailout and government-run health insurance. a ali, hi, he joins us now. what has been the reaction to the president's speech last night? >> reporter: well, listen, there's a lot of opposition to the president's speech, to a lot of the ideas of this administration. a lot of talk about taking back government in 2010 and 2012. over my right shoulder, the rally's under way right now. there are speakers, probably more than 1,000 people here waving flags. some of them say "don't tread on me." there's a real pushback on government involvement and intrusion. we've encountered a number of arguments on the sidewalks where people say we need government to get involved in health care. others say it's your tax dollars, we can't afford it. you can see the bus over my shoulder, the cnn express and the two t.e.a. party expresses right behind it. they're headed to d.c. for a big rally on saturday. and they've been taking this message across the country. we've also been driving across the country for a few weeks

going into places, the t.e.a. party express isn't and getting a mixed view of what's going on. but it's a fairly concentrated mixture of people who are angry about the always mrs. and pushing its way into people's lives and spending money that americans don't have to spend, tony. >> ali, let us let you go so you can talk to those folks. >> reporter: yeah. >> we'll be anxious to see your reporting later in the day and tomorrow. ali velshi with the cnn express. thank you. a california lawmaker's racy comments. have you heard this story? about sexual conquests, they have cost him his job. gecko vo: you see, it's not just telling people geico

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boy, oh, boy. a california politician quits in a shameful sex scandal. a family values crusader accidentally outs himself as a fi philanderer and hypocrite. >> reporter: this is mike duvall, a conservative republican and self-described family values politician caught in a very embarrassing conversation here in the california state assembly. the lawmaker was unaware he was

being recorded on an in-house channel at the state capitol, repeatedly boasting about sexual exploits with a married woman to a fellow committee member before a meeting. the 54-year-old, married, two-term legislator from orange county was talking about a liaison with a lobbyist who works for a firm who represents a utility company. duvall served as vice chairman for the committee on utility and commerce. he was also heard bragging about a second woman. when the recording was made public, duvall issued an apology. but after being removed from two committees, he decided to resign. >> we have such huge issues before the legislature and to have this become a distraction, he felt his responsibility was to step aside and to resign and to go home. >> reporter: duvall had been

awarded the ethics in america award by chapman university in 2000. he received a 100% grade from a family values group, and he has been an outspoken foe of gay marriage. >> what's finished mike duvall's career is not the fact that he was unfaithful to his spouse. plenty of politicians of both parties have survived that. what killed his political career is that he talked about it in front of an open microphone. >> reporter: an episode that killed his service in the california assembly. thelma gutierrez, cnn, los angeles. and this rather odd development. we noticed duvall posted this statement on his -- on his website today. quote, i want to make it clear that my decision to resign is no way an admission that i had an affair or affairs. we are pushing forward now with the next hour of "cnn newsroom" with kyra phillips! >> tony, thanks so much. you've heard the speeches. you've heard the shouting. we're pushing forward o