corporate welfare, a huge government giveaway to bankers, and this bill at long last will put a stop to it. mr. president, i want to state forthrightly, i am not antibank. i'm not antibanker. i have family members in the banking business and they do a great job. but who doesn't like free money? if you give the banks free money, they love it. but if we've got money that we want to give away, i say don't give it to the banks, give it to low-income students so they can go to college. banks have lots of ways in which they can make money. a low-income student has no other way to go to college but that we provide him and her access to meaningful pell grants. mr. president, i am disappoint that had our republican colleagues are doing everything in their power to delay and obstruct and kill this bill. reportedly they now plan to

offer dozens and dozens of largely meaningless amendments to try to stretch the process out and delay a final vote. mr. president, you might call this the republican version of march madness. they know it's going to end. they just want to drag it out. let's be clear what's at stake. a vote against this bill is a vote against eliminating the doughnut hole and the mayor prescription drug program for seniors. a vote against this bill is a vote against parents rights to keep their kids on their insurance plans until age 26. a vote against this bill is a vote against crackdown on fraud and abuse in medicare and medicaid programs. it is a vote against discrimination in rural areas. it is a vote against tens of billions of dollars in corporate welfare for banks, a vote against redirecting that money to more generous pell grants to

needy college students. i might add, mr. president, a vote against this bill is a vote against a very important provision. and i know an amendment has been offered to do away with what's called the class act. the class act is now the law of the land. and here's what it is: it's a voluntary program. no one has to join it. it's fiscally solvent for 75 years. all it says is that an individual during their working years can set aside some money so that if they, god forbid, become disabled, they can have some income to come in to live in their own homes and not be put in a nursing home. that's the law of the land right now, and there's an amendment before us to do away with that. over 275 groups representing people with disabilities and seniors support the class act, and we ought to keep it in the law and not repeal it with an amendment. in short, mr. president, those who are determined to kill this

reconciliation bill need to decide whose side they're on. are they going to continue their die-hard defense of the health insurance companies and the banks? are they going to stand with ordinary americans who want access to quality affordable, reliable health coverage and with needy young people who need pell grants in order to go to college? mr. president, it's time to choose. we're going to have a whole series of amendments here. some of them will sound nice. some of them i would probably like to vote for myself if it weren't to this bill. but we can't be lured into this by the siren's song of amendments that sound good but only have one purpose. that's to kill this bill, to delay it, to kill it, to make sure that it is not enacted into law. that's the only purpose of these amendments, make no mistake about it. so, mr. president, if an amendment comes up that i like,

might want to support, i will vote against it because it's that important to make sure that this reconciliation bill gets passed and sent to the president for his signature. so i say to all my friends on this side of the aisle, don't be lured, don't be lured by the siren's song of amendments that may sound good. don't be afraid that somehow they're going to use it against you in a campaign. hey, they can use anything against you in a campaign. we all know that by now. let's stand united, let's stand strong. let's say no to the amendments designed only to kill this bill. i urge my colleagues to support passage of the health care and education reconciliation act of 2010 and defeat all the amendments. let's get this bill to the president, and let's help our students get to college, and let's help the people of this country have better health care. mr. president, with that, i

yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, how much time remains on our side? the presiding officer: 1 minute, 48. mr. baucus: mr. president, first i thank all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. this has been a very civil discussion, very heartfelt feelings both sides. and i appreciate that. i also say that it's interesting, this is the first time in recent memory that a reconciliation bill, all amendments on one side only. these are clearly amendments designed to kill reconciliation, therefore kill health care reform. so i very much hope all these amendments are defeated. i know there are 23 amendments pending. it's about -- going to take seven or eight hours; hopeless. there will be many more amendments offered tonight. it's our expectation we'll

continue voting on all amendments until we finally vote on all amendments and we can get reconciliation passed, and therefore all the measures surrounding health care reform will be enacted and we can proceed. mr. gregg: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mr. gregg: how much time do we have on our side? the presiding officer: four minutes. mr. gregg: mr. president, a lot has been talked about here. a lot has been discussed. and i don't want to get into an expansive discussion of the issue of the underlying bill. it's been fully aired. but this concept that to vote down every amendment, you have to do that in order to save this bill seems to reject the concept of a constitutional process. think about this for a moment. a whole series of amendments here are being offered to fulfill the statements made by the president of the united states. for example, senator mccain has offered an amendment to take out the sweetheart deals.

the president said the sweetheart deals would be taken out. senator barrasso has offered an amendment which says if premiums go up, certain parts of this bill will not go into force. the president said premiums will not go up on working americans. senator crapo offered an amendment which says if there are taxes on people earning less than $200,000, those taxes won't go into force. that was what the president promised. i've offered an amendment which says that if there are medicare cuts in this bill, the cuts should go to benefit medicare and make medicare more solvent, a promise also made from the other side of the aisle. all of these are amendments substantive -- which are substantive and the purpose of which is to put forward the policies which the other side of the aisle represented they were going to have in the original bill. this is called the fix-it bill. we're suggesting you fix it so it meets the conditions set out by the president and by the democratic leadership here. yet, now we hear that every

amendment should be voted down. why? because the idea of sending the bill back to the house is an anathema to the democratic party. did i miss something? isn't the house of representatives controlled by the democratic party with a supermajority? you mean they couldn't survive the idea of knocking out the sweetheart deals, send it back to the house and come back here? that's going to somehow fundamentally undermine this bill? that argument is absurd on its face. absurd on its face. i think the only answer is that the other side of the aisle has decided to proceed on this bill in a most arrogant process. from the beginning of the core of this bill being put together in a hidden room, behind a hidden room, behind a hidden door on the speaker's side -- on the majority leader's office

suite, brought to this floor on a saturday afternoon. the tree was filled up, and we were told we had to vote on it on christmas eve. no amendments were allowed. then it was taken over to the house, and the speaker worked out the deals in the back rooms of her offices, behind hidden doors without any public input, without c-span there as it was represented it would be. what happened? it passed the house without any amendments being allowed. now for the first time we have a chance to make amendments and the position on the other side of the aisle is no amendments allowed, even if they're good amendments. so i guess obviously they consider their promises to be an inconvenience. obviously they presume the republican party is an inconvenience, the democratic process is an inconvenience. and it also appears, considering the opposition to this out in america, that the american people are an inconvenience and that amendments which make sense aren't going to be allowed to be

passed because they don't want to send it back to the house of representatives. it makes no sense to me, and i don't think it's going to make much sense to the american people. this bill is fundamentally flawed. it needs to be repealed and it needs to be replaced. we have suggested a whole series of amendments which will significantly improve this bill. and i would hope that some of them would be supported by the other side of the aisle since they are the policies of the other side of the aisle. the presiding officer: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. baucus: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, make no mistake -- mr. gregg: mr. president, point of order. time remaining on the bill? the presiding officer: i'm sorry. 53 seconds for the majority. mr. baucus: mr. president, make no mistake, the intent of every single one of the amendments offered on the other side of the aisle is to kill health care reform. that's the sole purpose of each of those amendments. that was the sole purpose of the

amendments in the finance committee last year, to kill health care reform. the sole purpose in the "help" committee except for a few benign amendments, to kill health care reform. the sole purpose on the floor of the senate. we took it up. every amendment is it kill health care reform. senators on this side of the aisle said this is hopefully the president's waterloo. they want to kill health care reform. it is clear they want to kill health care reform. the other side has said repeatedly in campaign statements in the other body, they want to repeal health care reform. they orchestrated legislatures to repeal health care reform. each amendment offered here is intended -- the presiding officer: the gentleman's time is expired. mr. baucus: -- that's why each amendment should fail. the presiding oicerthe clerk will call the roll.

mr. reid:? majority leader. -- mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. reid:. mr. reid: i direct this through the chair to my distinguished colleague, the republican leader. all time is expired. under the rules in the senate, we start our vote-athon now, as the republican leader knows. i would ask my friend, is it the desire of the minority that there would be time before each amendment and a response to that? mr. mcconnell: i would say to my friend the majority leader, since the voting will all occur

during the so-called vote-a-rama, if we could have the time to describe what each amendment; that would be helpful. mr. reid: i say to my colleague and members in this body, we do not have to agree to one minute. but we have -- want everyone to understand we have tried to be as fair as we can through this whole process, and there are some who said why should we tk-rbd there would be 43 minutes -- there would be 43 minutes. i think there are 26 amendments pending so it would be 43 minutes. we want to be fair. in recent years we have agreed to unanimous consent to have a minute to explain the amendment and a minute to disagree with the amendment. i think that's the appropriate thing to do. we want to make sure that everyone is treated fairly. but i alert everyone the chair is going to enforce itself --

we're not waiting for the parliamentarian. the chair is going to enforce that to the letter of the law. every time the presiding officer is here, there will be one minute -- if this consent agreement is agreed to there will be one minute to explain the amendment and one minute to disagree with the amendment. mr. mcconnell: it has been the custom on both sides when we've been in these vote-a-rama situations in the past to have one minute. i appreciate the willingness of the majority leader to do that. mr. reid: mr. president, i would also ask that -- i ask unanimous consent, as i directed or ask, that there be one minute to explain an amendment, one minute to disagree with that amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i would ask also, mr. president, unanimous consent

that after the first amendment which will be our normal 15 minutes, with the 5-minute time that we allow after that, to be the first amendment, all amendments thereafter -- all amendments thereafter be ten minutes. i ask unanimous consent that prior to each vote there be two minutes debate equally divided and controlled in the usual form. that upon the yielding back of that time the senate proceed to vote in relation to the amendments and the motions in the order they have been offered. i think that is the fair way to go so we're not trying to catapult over other amendments that people may have offered at an earlier time. there be no intervening motions prior a vote. the first vote in the sequence and the succeeding votes be limited 10 minutes. and the reason, mr. president, i suggest that 10 minutes is -- i've been told by senator mcconnell and others they want an opportunity to offer amendments and this will allow

them an opportunity to offer maybe a few more. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, i would also note the that just the amendments have been filed now. if we are fortunate, we can probably -- it will take nine hours or so, maybe more than that, to get rid of those, of continuous votes without any breaks and we're not going to have any breaks unless something untoward happens. so senators are advised that they should remain close to the floor during this process. if people aren't here at the end of the time, we're going to close it up. we need to move on. we have other things that we have to do prior to the recess that i have to work with the republican leader. this is taking an inordinate amount of time to do this. so everyone stay here. it works a lot better if you stay very close to your seats and we'll hopefully have an orderly process, as much as possible, during the vote-a-rama. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the

minority leader. mr. mcconnell: i'm going to take a few minutes of my leader time before we begin the vote. the presiding officer: the leader has that right. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, the administration and some in congress would like this debate to be over. they want the american people to sit down and quiet down. that's been their approach to health care for an entire year. well, republicans think that congress serves the people, not the other way around. so we fought on behalf of the american people this week and we'll continue to fight until this bill is repealed and replaced with commonsense ideas that solve our problems without dismantling the health care system we have and without burying the american dream under a mountain of debt. that's what we've been doing all week here in the senate. while democrat lawmakers and staffers threw a party for themselves at the white house

yesterday, republicans were here at the capitol fighting 150-page postscript that democrats added on at the last minute to the health care bill. this add-on took a terrible health spending bill and made it even worse. if you thought the tax hikes in the original bill were pad bad, this -- were bad, this bill raised them even higher. if you thought the medicare cuts were bad, this bill made them even deeper. if you thought the first bill cost too much, this bill made it even more expensive. if you didn't like the special deals in the first bill, they slipped more into this one. the whole thing was one last slap in the face of americans across the country who have been howling at democrats for the past year to stop this bill and to work instead across party lines on reforms that would actually drive costs down.

so today republicans will give democrats one last chance to reject the horrible impact the underlying bill and this last-minute add-on will have on our country. unfortunately, we already know that they plan to turn the other way. we'll offer an amendment to direct the medicare cuts in this bill back into medicare to preserve and strengthen it for future generations. they'll reject it. we'll offer an amendment to strike all of the new sweetheart deals in this bill, but they'll reject it. we'll offer an amendment that would have obliged the president to keep his pledge that families earning under $250,000 won't see any tax hikes as a result of this bill. they plan to reject it. we'll offer an amendment requiring h.h.s. to certify that this bill doesn't increase premiums. they'll reject it. we'll offer an amendment to strike a job-killing mandate on

business. they'll reject it. so while the white house is trying to sell this health spending bill to a skeptical public, senate democrats today will speak loudly and they will speak clearly about the things in this bill the white house doesn't want people to know and vote to endorse them. the massive cuts to medicare for seniors. job-killing mandates and business tax hikes, higher insurance premiums, sweetheart deals, tax hikes on middle-class families, this is the real story of health care reform. americans may not be hearing about it from the white house, but i assure you they'll be feeling the pain. americans know this and they want to know that somebody's fighting for them here in washington to make their voices heard. that's what republicans have been doing on this issue for the

past year. that's what we've been doing this week. that's what we'll be doing tonight and that's what we'll keep doing until those voices are heard. we're not giving up. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the leader. mr. reid: "u.s.a. today" and gallup reported that the people of america, citizens of america, favor what we did by a score of 49 to 40. that's a pretty significant majority. people support this legislation. why? because they're tired of being treated by the insurance industry the way they're treated. my friend talks about the mountain of debt of this bill. mr. president, we have rules and guidelines in this body, in this

congress, and one of them is that we have an independent body that has been setup not by republicans, not by democrats, but by us. it's independent. it's not partisan. and that agency, congressional budget office, determined this bill over the first 10 years will save about $140 billion. over the next 10 years years, $1.3 trillion. this is make believe they talk about all these things that are going to cost so much. $1.3 trillion. now, i also have to comment on this, mr. president. my friend, the republican leader, talks about how hard they were working yesterday when we were at a 45-minute meeting at the white house while the president made history signing for the first time in 100 years major health care reform in this

country. they were working so hard here. they were working so hard today that they refused to let committees meet to hold sensitive, important hearings for our country. carl levin had to cancel a meeting because republicans refused to allow that meeting to go forward dealing with the safety and security of this nation. claire mccaskill, with her subcommittee, had to cancel a hearing dealing with having police officers trained in afganistan, canceled. working hard, they are to throw a monkey wrench in everything that we're trying to do for the american people. to in any way denigrate, as has been done this afternoon, chairman max baucus, chairman chris dodd on the work done by the man replacing ted kennedy is

an outrage. max baucus devoted his life to this legislation for the last two years. a number of roundtable discussions with finance committee members and invited guests, three, the number of papers outlining health care reform, significant, important papers that were distributed to everybody around the country who was interested in health care. gang of six, three republicans and three democrats, 31 meetings. number of member meetings on health care reform, 142. these aren't backroom deals. this is how business is conducted here in the united states senate. number of days in the finance committee the bill was available before the markup even took place, total number of amendments posted online before the markup, 564. public. everyone in america could read that. number of amendments considered during the markup, 135.

number of days the committee spent marking up the bill, eight. number of days the final bill was available before the vote, 11. there was more, but you get the picture. now, chairman dodd conducted the longest markup in the history of the "help" committee. on what subject? health care. public meetings, many of them on c-span. mr. president, there's no bill anymore. it was signed into law yesterday. the work that we did here on christmas eve through the storms of 2009 is now the law of this country. and we're going to start in just a few minutes making that law

even better. in my state of nevada, mr. president, 600,000 people will be able to have insurance that's never had it before. 24,000 small businesses will be eligible for a subsidy to employ -- have people employed that have health insurance. they didn't have health insurance because they're cheap or mean. they couldn't afford it. the insurance companies would -- they'd get a palsy, they would cancel one if somebody got sick or hurt. now someone who's 26 years old can go to college or do whatever they want to do and not worry about losing their insurance until they establish themselves. mr. president, this legislation extends medicare for nine years is a healthy entity.

medicare is not a perfect program, but it's a good program. my first elective job was a countwide job in las vegas, metropolitan area, clark county. when i went on the hospital board, the largest district in nevada, 47 seniors who -- 40% of seniors that came into that hospital had no health insurance, their brothers, sisters, neighbors would sign for them to be responsible for that bill. we had a large collection agency, we went after those people. not anymore. medicare, now a senior citizens comes no that hospital, they're taken care of because of medicare. we extend the life of that program for about nine years. i had a letter written to me by a man from nevada, anyone

wanting to know -- anyway, a man from nevada. he wrote to me and he said, senator, i have a son that has diabetes, but it's become more complicated, he now has addison's disease. i lost my job, we have no health insurance. when i go to bed at night and say my prayers, i don't know whether to pray to die or stay alive to help my son. that's how desperate he is. people like this man from nevada is no longer going to have to be desperate. no longer are we going to have 750,000 people file for bankruptcy, 70% of them because of health care costs, and 80% of them have health insurance. this is a bill -- the bill that is now a law of this country dealing with health care is a wonderful bill and we're going to improve it tonight.

the presiding officer: there will be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the gregg amendment as modified. who yields time? mr. gregg: mr. president, this amendment fulfills the obligation we have to our senior citizens. this bill reduces on its fac face $520 billion in medicare by cutting medicare beneficiaries through reducing providers and by eliminating or significantly reducing the medicare advantage program. that number actually when fully implemented is $1 trillion over the first 10 years. that's $1 trillion of reductions in medicare. that money's then taken and used to recreate new entitlements for people who are not seniors and for the most part not paid into the medicare trust fund.

that's wrong. medicare is in serious trouble. we should use the medicare savings in this bill for the purposes of making medicare more solvent. that's exactly what this amendment does. it keeps medicare savings in the medicare trust fund and uses them to make medicare more solvent. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, without being dramatic, this is a killer amendment, pure and simple. why? because it basically is designed to prevent spending. that means it would take away the tax credits to middle-income americans, help them buy insurance. this amendment would take away because it's in the legislation signed by the president. kill assistance to seniors to buy prescription drugs, take that away. it would take away assistance to states. that's why with many examples it's a killer amendment. i proudly support this bill. why?

this bill reduces insurance costs for working class and middle-class americans, expands medicare prescription drug coverage for more than three million seniors, provides immediate tax credits for more than four million small businesses, stops $6 billion in annual government subsidies for banks and puts money for college grants for families. in contrast, our friends on the other side do not want to do that. they want to kill this bill. i think that's patently against the wishes of the american people. i move to table the gregg amendment and ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote?

the presiding officer: any other senators wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the ayes are 56, the

nays are 42. the motion to table is agreed to. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: we're going to cut the votes off after ten minutes. the presiding officer: okay, we're cutting -- mr. reid: we're going toov these as quickly as we can. we want to get through this series of votes just as rapidly as we can. and it's going it take hours to do that. people should stay close here. we're not -- we're not going to have time for fun and games here. we need to move through this process, so it makes it so much easier if you can vote when you're here. otherwise some people are going to miss some votes. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will be -- there will now be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote in relation to amendment number 3570 offered by the senator from arizona, mr. mccain. order -- the senate will be in order.

mr. mccain: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: mr. president, the amendment removes the following items from the legislation: additional medicaid funding for hawaii hospitals, additional medicaid funding for tennessee hospitals, provides special medicaid funding for louisiana, special medicaid funding primarily for reclassified hospitals in michigan and connecticut, $100 million for connecticut hospital, the frontier funding provision provided in new medicare money for montana, south dakota, north dakota, and wyoming, a provision allowing for certain residents in libby, montana. mr. president, i do not argue whether these are worthwhile or needed projects. i do argue the method in which they were inserted in this legislation. the one for tennessee being as recently as yesterday or the day before. it is a lg process.

-- it is the wrong process. the presidgfficerthe senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, i think it's important to recognize this amendment for what it is. it's basically a political stunt at the expense of lots of victimized people. one is the victims of hurricane katrina, the other victims of asbestos in libby, montana, the expense of rural americans, an attempt to derail the bill, force the hots house to have to vote again. therefore, it would force the senate to probably have to go through another vote aa mavment go back and forth. makes no sense whatsoever. let's not forget the underlying legislation which passed recently, signed by the president yesterday, reduces insurance off the costs for the working middle-class americans. this amendment would have the effect of taking that away, if passed. if passed it would take away medicare prescription drug coverage for more than 3 million seniors. if passed it would have the effect of taking away the immediate tax credits for small

businesses and i would go offer and on. so i would urge members to support my motion to table and ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. the question is on the motion to table. the clerk will call the roll.

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or change their votes? if not, the ayes are 54 and the nays are 43, and the motion to table succeeds, passes. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from -- under the previous order, there will now be two minutes of

debate equally divided prior to a vote in relation to the motion to recommit, offered by the senator from idaho, mr. crapo. mr. crapo? mr. crapo: mr. president? mr. president, the bill that the president has signed into law, together with the bill we are considering today on health care is -- the presiding officer: the chamber is not in order. the senator from idaho. mr. crapo: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the two health care bills, the one the president's already signed into law plus this one we are considering, will spend another $2.6 trillion over the next ten years. in order to pay for it onef include is over $600 billion in new. the president has pledged that there would be no taxes on the middle class and he defined that to be anybody who makes less than $200,000 as an individual or $250,000 as a couple or a family. all that this motion to commit does is say that let's take

those taxes out of these bills. 73 million americans who fall squarely in the middle class, who make less than $200,000 a year as an individual or $250,000 as a couple, will pay the burden of these taxes if we don't make this change. it's time for this congress -- the presiding officer: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. crapo: to help the president keep his pledge. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, again, i don't want to be dramatic about this but it's a fact that this amendment's a killer amendment. that's why we cannot adopt it. i'd like to remind my colleagues that this -- the underlying bill, the bill the president signed yesterday, has a very large tax cut. there's tax credits in the neighborhood of about $400 billion-and-some. that's a big tax cut for americans who today are having a hard time buying insurance. a tax credit enables middle and

lower-income americans to buy insurance. and i think they should keep that in mind. a vote for this amendment would, in fact, prevent all the benefits that this bill provid provides, reforming the health insurance market, stopping rescissions, stopping preexisting conditions, prevent $17 billion in tax credits that otherwise go to small business. i strongly urge my colleagues to support my motion to table this amendment. and i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a second? mr. baucus: i move to table. the presiding officer: is there a second? there appears to be. the question is on the motion to table. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

the presiding officer: is there any other senator wishing to vote or change his or her vote? if not, the ayes are 56. the nays are 43.

the motion to table, the motion to commit is agreed to. a senator: move to table. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, there will now be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote in relation to the motion to commit offered by the senator from wyoming, mr. enzi. please, order. the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: mr. president, this is not a killer amendment. this just kills a bad part of the bill. this just kills a bad part of the bill. the reconciliation bill makes a

coaches aren't wrong, no matter what. when a a coach wants to teach you something and you think you're above that, because you played 16 games, i'm the most disappointed i've ever been in 15 years with a player. most disbointsed. >> i think football is happy last night? wait until you hear from andray blatche has to say about him. welcome to geico sportsnite. >> big night on the network. we start with a pretty big game in d.c., you may have heard. we got caps and penns. and if you're lucky never to be at the game tonight, might just see lisa hillary in the house. we bring in lisa now for a preview and happy game day, lisa and the big question going go into this game, after all the

off the ice news yesterday, will the capitals be focused on their rivals and put the distractions aside? >> i definitely think so. this is why. this morning at practice, the players harp involved in the questioning because of this investigation, eric fehr, matt bradley and shaone morrison, our cameras caught up with them, after you hear what they have to say, for the fans' sake, the team's sake, hopefully we can fooenl finally put -- finally put this story behind us. >> they were asking us information about what we knew, more about what our relationship was with him, not so much about him because like i said none of us know him personally. we've been there, been there for treatment like i said and that's as far as it goes. >> i don't think they're really looking at our players. i think they're more interested in finding what the doctors all done, who he's been given stuff

to. i don't think it was the players that were really targeted. >> it was a while ago for me, but he

your area, hoping to hear from flip saunders later in the show. still ahead with albert hainsworth still missing workouts. coach mike shanahan at breakfast in orlando. plus it's the marquee match-up in the nature and you can see it right here on the network. much more on tonight's capitals

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. the redskins will be holding training camp this summer the same place they held it in 2003, right at home. head coach mike shanahan said he had preferred to take the players away but maybe next year. shanahan is in orlando this week at the nfl owner's meeting and he said he wants clinton portis to drop some weight and how he will not name a starter at quarterback going into training camp. jason with the nfl network had some one on one time with the

coach. >> albert hainsworth has been difficult to coach at time. i guess he's not taking part fully in the off-season program. you still serging for -- searching for common ground with him? >> one thing about albert is he came in and sat down and talked to me, we had a good conversation. i'm just going to you know, let time go by and hopefully albert's in great shape and he comes in ready to go at full speed. i'm looking for guys that get it done on the field and i think we know what albert's done. he's had a great conditioning program. if he keeps doing that, he's going to get better. gilbert arenas will be sentenced friday on his gun charge. the prosecutor is asking for at least three months behind bars. larry hughes who's in town with the bob cats tonight is very

good friends with gilbert and has been giving him support and advice throughout. >> i think he's learned. you know, reality has set in. he's focused on you know, letting everybody know that he knows that he -- that he made a mistake and moving forward. he's a guy that i'm sure we won't judge him after the fact, after he served his debt or paid his dues, whatever the case may be. i'm sure the people that know him won't judge him after the fact because they know who he is. still to come on geico sportsnite, sidney crosby on alex ovechkin, you're going to want to hear that. after taking a puck to the face, dwight will be side lined tonight.

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build up game for us, we want to beat them because they're in our conference. if i was sitting aunt coach and watching this game, i would be anticipating it greatly because every time ovechkin plays, the team has something special come out testify. >> and he's on the ice getting right side to take on the pens. >> russ, any time the word steroids is mentioned in any context of sports, all kinds of bhisels and bells go off. >> and the capitals players are not the target of the investigation, they're trying to get to the bottom root of this

chiropractor. mvp matters, as far as the nhl is concerned, it's a high honor. >> the most valuable, first awarded in 194, gretsky won it nine times. >> these are the top two candidates this year for the capitals ovechkin, leading in goals #45rks 97 points, most in the league, plus 42 and with all those points he's missed 10 games and still tops. sidney crosby of the penguins same holds true, 45 goals, five with o t, 9 fewer in games. arguably one-two when it comes down to the voting at the end of

the season. >> the nhl writers have a number of worthy candidates. >> we forgot about that asdine guy. ryan miller 36 wins, part of the reason the coyotes were houlg in the western conference. >> i think we forgot about zack pariee are included as well. the caps and penguins are only strong ad ver '4 he'd ver sears -- adversaries when all the guys are there. >> the pittsburgh penguins will miss malkin again tonight. >> big eastern conference rivals, it's the third of their four regular season get-togethers and as always,

caps-penguins will be a thriller. all the starter ridiculous goals, insane assists, all star games all of that, doesn't really matter. the one thing that does is the one thing that sidney has and ove y wants. >> we see each other a lot and been fortunate enough to have those things happen but we're still young. there's a lot of time left and i think the best time to judge players or you know people is after their career and things like that. you know i think i evaluated myself every everyier but by no means to i compare myself to him based on that. i never will and you know, my goals don't change based on you know what he does and i'm sure it's the same for him. so the things that drive us will be the same no matter who wins it. >> for more on the crosby

ovechkin comparison, check out our website at csnwashington.com. one media poll in that story has ovey has him picking up his third straight trophy. coming up after andray blatche crossed the boss tuesday, the boss speaks up. they take on the indiana pacers tonight. ññwvvwwwwwwwwvwfg

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. here's tonight's line-up package by the ups store, double feature you'll get the showdown

with the caps and pens and sportsnite at 10. over on the channel, it's the whiz arizona and pace -- wizards and pacers. . after the game, bruce boudreau takes us insides the caps film room of the head coach andalen may talk one on one. something you will only see on comcast sportsnet. . if you're a coach and you say you want to play come up and talk to me, you don't come up and talk to me, actions speak as

much as words. that's it. we move forward. he starts today and we'll move forward and see how things go. i hope he plays well. i would think he's got a lot of rest, so it's not like he's playing on a back to back. it shouldn't change things. that's part of you know a left times when you're going through bad stretches, you finds out as much about people how they're going to react in playoff situations in pressure situations, so hopefully this type of situation he'll thrive on, we'll see what he's made out of it. >> that's it for us on geico sportsnite. >> for the very latest, log on to csnwashington.com. coming up next, check out the papa john's opening tipoff as the wizards get set to battle the pacers. >> and in high definition on the main channel, papa john's opening face-off, boo, caps and pens from verizon center. enjoy the games, folks.

. coach went up to him two or three different times, said he didn't want to play. 15 years, didn't see anything like that. >> so saundzers and blatche and team president got together following the game. as a result, blatche will get to start. >> hopefully he's got his head on right and he'll start of the they'll need the production of al thornton who played well last night. al with ten points in the game but 8 of them coming in the 4th quarter. we knocked down a couple of jumpers, including the 3 before pointer at the ends of regulation that sent the game in overtime. al thornton, they'll rely on his scoring but he'll have the assignment of guarding granger. >> the pacers come off a

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are looking for their four-game win streak while the wizards must put a genuine focus on the final games the season. that's the talk of our philosophy 45 with former bullet great phil chenier. >> thanks a lot, buck. the wizards have lost 12 straight. yet in the last four they've given thementz a chance to win. the defense has been respectable. their offense lacking. last night the wizards allowed only 82 points in regulation play. even with the overtime the bob

cats ended with 95 points that's four consecutive games holding their opponents under 100. except in the lakers game the wizards have not been further hurt by the 3-ball but they've only averaged 19 free throw attempts. here's what we need to see more of. first of all, you have randy foye driving all the way to the basket, in the paint. mike miller gets the open uncontested jumper, another nice play. and once again, it's foye with the basket in the middle, and you have an easy two. jump shots are good, especially when uncontested but lift it up, goo on the attack, get to the rim and get to the line. steve will have starting lineups and the opening tip nexton

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a. >> phil: last game, 32 against oklahoma and last night against detroit but already tonight, nine points, he's perfect from the field, 4-4 and has the team only 3-pointer. >> steve: over the last 10 days averaging almost 30 or shooting

30%. nice pass by boyknis inside for singleton in the 2. >> phil: we talked about getting in the paint, force the defense to make a decision, looking for opportunities for them to make a mistake. >> steve: offensive foul, they could have called him for traveling. >> phil: boyknis just beat watkins to the stop. it's elementary. >> steve: yes, it is. i like when you throw those in every now and again. >> phil: every now and then. >> steve: dr. livingston. 4:17 to go, bob delanie cleans things up. he's always cleaning things up. of course as a member of the state police in new jersey and was part of project alpha, deep undercover investigation into

organized crime and man is still alive. referee in his 23rd year. andray baseline and they kick it out to boyknis. good strong move, that will be goaltending. aggressive move. >> phil: well, we haven't seen them really settling on just outside. they look to move the ball and look to get inside. thornton a couple times has made strong moves like that one there. this time it's the gel tending -- goaltending, watching him with the 2. >> steve: murphy around the screen, goes all the way, stops, gets fouled and he scores. >> phil: you got to respect his

outside shot. that time singleton was well behind the pick and he realized murphy was zeroing in on that shot. you see singleton quickly driving to get out to the 3-point line. >> steve: solomon jones in his fourth year from south florida in the game, along with the wizards them sis, mike dunleavy has checked in. murphy misses and blatche is there. pacers by 3, steve buckhantz, phil chenier. our comcast sportsnet crew, second game in as many nights for washington, coming off a tough overtime loss to charlotte last night. blatche, he'll get fouled and go to the line. >> phil: if they keep making moves

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. >> steve: players coming and going. washington trading four players. >> phil: four of their starters. >> steve: and acquiring names singleton, josh howard. >> phil: penetration here by boyknis. he merely gets knocked out

year 71%. larry byrd, saw him on tv last

night. >> phil: saw him on that special with magic? >> steve: yes. >> phil: it was great. >> steve: he looks to -- he looks the same to me almost. >> phil: he looks older to me. >> steve: really? >> phil: yes, a little bit. >> steve: a few more pounds. >> phil: we all should talk. >> steve: happens with age. blatche great move by andray, boy he gets going like that is correct at almost seven feet tall, you can't stop him. >> phil: hard for those big men not to bite on that. >> steve: a foul is called down low on quinton ross. jones is headed back to the free throw line. as a group this indiana team

shoots well. only dallas, the thunder, portland and new orleans shoot better from the free throw line than this team does. except for solomon jones. >> phil: that first free throw shot he took moments ago, that left his hand in such an awkward fashion. >> steve: yeah. >> phil: like a missile off to the side. >> steve: scud missile. he'll try again and miss that one. you saw jimmy o'brien who earned his mba at the university of maryland back in 1981, thrice picks the pocket. this foul on earl boyknis. >> phil: that's a problem with this team. the last time -- in fact the first two times they played has been turnovers, washington with 19 and 18 turnovers in the two games. you have a team like the pacers that take full advantage of those second opportunities

coming by way of steals. >> steve: price misses badly on the free throw. jinx them again. here's jimmy o'brien who was an assistant in college park. in his third year here, took over for rick carlisle a couple seasons ago. led them to 36-46. this year so far the pacers have won 25 games. boyknis baseline jumper, little strong. quinton ross puts it up, is pulled away by dahntay jones. carrying the ball is called aunt pairsers. one of those turnovers you talked about. >> phil: this time it's a part of the pacers, so you certainly like that. i thought quinton jones offensive rebound and put back, i thought it was good plays, just didn't get enough english on the ball but washington is able to get it right back with

the turnovers. >> steve: only the clippers, the bob cats and the t-wolfs commit more turnovers per game than this indiana team. shot clock winding down. actually the game clock, shot clock is off. >> phil: good pressure, boyknis can't get the ball back. >> steve: here's miller, blatche will take a 3 and blatche will hit a 3. and that cuts the pacer lead to 1. price quickly the other way, guarded by boyknis and he's fouled on the play! foul called on earl boyknis with the buzzer going off and that's going to result in three free throws coming for indiana. >> phil: they're going to check it out to make sure the contact happened after -- yeah, they're going to review it, make sure the contact happened before, i should say, the game clock went off. >> steve: they're checking

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. >> phil: also gotten to the line four times and washington, some of those inside points i thought in that 1st quarter, a lot of their players, thornton as well, going towards the basket so putting a little pressure. let's see if it pays off throughout the course of the game. >> steve: blatche misses on the jumper. steve buckhantz, phil chenier, randy foye getting his first action of the night, as does nick young. danny graker back in. granger couldn't finish.

it was a pretty look by mcroberts. >> phil: granger was anticipated mcroberts shooting the ball. >> steve: fires for nick young. nick young off balance, missed everything, miller trying to save it. knocked out of bounds. it will go to indiana. mcgee back in. >> phil: washington getting five nor field goal attempts, but the hot shooting, 56% for pacers, 6 assists, washington with only 3 assists. >> steve: pacers shooting well and 14 points in the paint in that 1st quarter. wizards had 12. blatche comes out of the game. and granger keblgts. granger played almost 8 and a half minutes in that 1st quarter and had 9 points. he's got 11 now.

the pacers shot 150 tree throws in the 1st quarter and only made 8. thornton's jumper thought there. >> phil: i think thafg singleton -- i think that was singleton with the tip. >> steve: blatche was the only player to get to the free throw line for washington in that 1st quarter. way off and the wizards there for the rebound. >> phil: singleton is just cleaning up on the board. >> steve: tonight has 7 in the game. 4-point pacer lead, nick young with the open jumper, good. >> phil: javale mcgee came out. that was a hard pick on jones. >> steve: kicks it out, a long three up and short and randy foye up high for the rebound. for al thornton, stutter step and thornton on the pass is fouled. that shot will not count by nick young.

>> phil: showing you a little ball handling skills out there. here's the last possession for washington. javale comes up, hard pick on jones. we talked about that that in our philosophy, for sets, open shots and drives to the baskets getting inside. >> steve: 7 seconds, mcgee eyeing the score. couldn't get the short shift. thornton knocks it out of bounds and the officials are going to give it to washington. >> phil: thornton fighting hard for that ball. i think it went off one of the pacers' foot. >> steve: that is not going to count and a foul called on dahntay jones. >> phil: he nailed and levelled james singleton. watch this.

singleton trying to come across the middle, just a block. >> steve: usually the -- usually it's the other way around because singleton can get seth some monstrous picks. >> steve: been a great rebound guy for wizards since come trg dallas 9 -- coming from dallas. >> phil: he's got one more shot to surpass his former season high of 28 with dallas. >> steve: foye, the open jumper, andy foye ties the score at 31. foye did not play in the 1st quarter. hits that shot with about three minutes gone by here in the second period. a.j. price left alone and mcgee is there to clean the glass. here comes washington with a

chance for their first lead and it will come from the free throw line with nick young to shoot 2. time-out here in indiana. so the wizards again, very aggressive and it's paid off here in the 2nd quarter. they have a chance to take the lead when we come back. ♪

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season. can you name them in three different players to be named most improved in the last ten seasons. >> phil: all righty. >> steve: we'll think about that. >> phil: i got one of them right now. >> steve: i got one, too. >> phil: we're looking at him. >> steve: yes, sir siree. >> phil: that's mine. >> steve: that's mine, too. last year in fact. >> phil: okay. >> steve: so here's nick young. able to give washington the advantage. we'll try again. nick's the only other player

besides blatche to shoot a free throw in this game. misses both, al thornton it is there. that's no good. singleton up high. >> phil: nick, he's usually good on free throws. what a play. he was going in the opposite direction with macroberts, a wild pass able to stuff it through. >> steve: 33-31 indiana. wizards not led in this game. thornton around the singleton screen goes to the floor and coughs it up, granger the over way. comes up short of the mcroberts the other way. >> phil: two very athletic plays the last two scores. >> steve: this guy looks like david lee out there. >> phil: i can see that. >> steve: at least tonight.

blatche up off the washington bench. after getting a rest. al thornton's jumper no good. nice rebound by mcgee, but he couldn't score and dunleavy tips it to himself. granger blocked by mcgee but laid up by mcroberts. >> phil: he's got some good friends. he's got all four of their offensive rebounds. >> steve: he is 6-8 from the field, has 12 points. >> phil: and again, much like david lee, not having any plays run for him, everything going off the ball, filling the lane on the break. >> steve: 6-0 run by the pacers. and the wizards charged with a

24-second violation. flip saunders looks to the officials and says i'd like to a time-out, please. with 7:12 to go in half no. 1, his team was tied a minute ago at 31 with a chance to take the lead. n b acer u!of te! exc... what grndwithan ♪ yout habe so nice ♪ - thier l al pin - ohy? its mouhi ts rable do ye it i hat pinlovegrea pils. whou l?

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