it is not everybody does the way dod does it. i thought you were going to start on a different point. . they found it earlier in the clean up earlier. when you figure that out, they had exactly the same tools.

there is a report that showed the only difference was the one who found it earlier had a set of skills that the ones who did not find it did not have. we have not been supporting the people who wanted those skills. we have been supporting people without technical skills and saying you can always buy technical skills. china has a competition every military district, the winner in one province was one person. he won the local competition and put him through an intensive training and put him in the southwest china competition. his team won that. he left graduate school and started a small company, not clear where the money was coming from, -- >> we will go live now to the white house where president obama is joining a radio talk-

show host for a discussion on healthcare. he is generally identified as a conservative but did support the president in the last election. live coverage now on c-span. >> that would be terrific. >> what is his name? >> wilson. it would make his day. >> what is he doing these days? >> nervous ford debt today. he is getting ready to go back to school. -- nervous for dad today. >> they are looking better than my 1 -- than my white sox right now. is this your only one? >> we have four. >> i hope you are saving for college tuition. >> two radio shows per day. that is awfully nice. i appreciate it very much. the drill is i am anxious to welcome you to the program in

three minutes. there are a number of people already on hold who have some direct questions, largely about health care. more than 5000 e-mails in the last 24 hours when word got out i was coming to the white house. the good news is respectful, folks with legitimate questions. >> every time i have been on your show i have a great time. this is a good opportunity because there are some legitimate disagreements to be had about health care, but a lot of misinformation. if we can clear up misinformation then we can focus on legitimate debate. >> i don't know if the ear piece will be necessary because they will probably play in the room. >> if i cannot hear the first one well, i will put the your piece in. >> i will ask you a question or two. >> we will do about 10 minutes

on the front end. >> i think we will mix it up. they have been awfully patient. it is the sort of a surreal environment for a guy like me to be seated here. >> me, too. >> understanding the history that has taken place. i don't know if you have had the chance to take a tour, but you should. take a look at the west wing. you can go up on the first floor, famous pictures and the painting of kennedy where he is looking down. it gives you a real sense of history. we're doing a few repairs on the walkway, but you walk along the rose garden and you can see the ramp that was built by fdr. >> have you settled index >> -- had he settled in?

you basically have a lot of work in front of you. -- have you settle in? the staff is wonderful and made my family really feel at home. the girls adjustment to school is better than i expected. they are gone this week but they seem to be doing well. >> my boys saw the movie "national treasure2" and snow which -- and know that you have been provided the bulk of secrets. they wanted to know which one imprest do -- provided the book of secrets. >> if i told you i would have to kill you. >> a big show opened coming in a minute. hopefully it will not be to allow for you. >> how are you? is that your producer? nice to see it.

♪ >> broadcasting, this is the michael smirkonish program. ♪ welcome back to the program. what an honor for me to say i am live at the white house, joined by the president of the united states. what an honor for me, and thank you for coming back. >> it is great to be on the show again. every time we have been on it has been a great time. >> folks are anxious to pose some questions about health care to the president, more than 5000 e-mails have come through my web site in the last 24 hours alone. i will start by posing a couple of questions and some of the things i continue to hear. allow me to begin with this, it

did it secretary sebelius miss speech last week? -- dishy misspeak? >> she did not come and she was saying this all along. -- did she misspeak? >> we have talked about the need for health care reform because premiums are going up three times faster than inflation and wages. the cost of medicare and medicaid will bankrupt this country if we don't reduce the cost. there are families who cannot get health care because of pre- existing conditions or there is some lifetime cap. there are a number of components of health care. one is that for people already with health insurance, they can keep it but we will have some consumer protections to regulate health insurers operate. they cannot prohibit people from getting health insurance because

of a pre-existing condition. they cannot have lifetime caps that prevent people from getting care that they need. for people who don't have health insurance, we will set up a system similar to congress where you can buy into a bigger pool, get better rates and have better protections. you would be buying debt from private insurers, but one of the assumptions we talked about was talked aboutoption. it will be -- we talked about the public's option. we think that is a good idea but we have not said that is the only aspect of health insurance. what she said is that these other insurance reforms are just as important as the public option. the press got excited and some folks on the left got excited. our position has not changed. the key is cost, control,

competition. if we are able to achieve that, that is the end we are seeking. we can have some good arguments about the west -- the best way to achieve that but we need to change. >> there is a mind-set among many who say that the end game is all about single payer. you know there is a perception out there that you want it all. you want to be in the banks, the automotive industry and now in health care. can you address that mindset? >> the intervention in the banks was not started by me, it was started by a conservative republican administration, and rightly so. the only thing we have done is said let's put in place financial regulations to make sure this does not happen again. the auto interventions were not started by me, they were started by a conservative republican

administration. rather than just write these companies a blank check, we said if you are going to get any more taxpayer money you have to be accountable. now gm is actually hiring folks back. i know there is this perception that somehow we have engaged in these interventions. part of it had to do with the worst financial crisis in history and the fact that the auto bailout and bank bailout were started under a previous conservative a ministration indicates the fact that this was not ideological. -- during a previous conservative administration. i would love the private marketplace to be handling this without any government intervention. the problem is it is not working. we are seeing 14,000 folks lose their health insurance every single day. we are seeing health care inflation go up twice as fast as ritter inflation.

businesses are being crippled by it. -- twice as fast as rising inflation. all we have said is let's keep the private system intact but let's make sure that people who cannot get health insurance, that they are able to buy into the market. and let's have some consumer protections to make sure that those of us with health insurance don't end up getting a bad deal because we did not read the fine print and think we have coverage, and then when we get sick it turns out we are vulnerable because insurance companies are not operating in the interests of their customers. >> i would like to drive an f150 and i communicated with e-mail with the ones who sold me this. they said cash for clunkers was a wonderful initiative, but the payments are late. i am hearing from many folks who

say if the government cannot get it together for this program i don't want to entrust my health care to the government. >> let me address cash for clunkers. it has been successful beyond anybody's imagination. we are now slightly victims of success because it happened so quickly that there was so much more demand anybody expected that dealers were overwhelmed with applications. this program is only going on for a few weeks, and we have hired three times as many people to process this stuff as we originally had. there has not been extraordinary delays on the u.s. government's part. i understand dealers want to get their money back, but this is a good news story. they are seeing sales they have not seen in years, and they will get their money but we have to

process it probably come up because if we were just sending out checks where applications were incomplete, we would be breaking the law because there are statutes set up, and there were probably be some story. you would be asking me about scandals where there were a bunch of checks being wasted going out to people who had not actually bought cars. i think this is a high class problem to have that we are selling too many cars to quickly and there is some backlog. >> burnie is a listener of mine in boston -- ernie is a listener of mine. go ahead with your question. mr. president, thank you for taking this call. i understand you have said that the federal health care plan for government employees is pretty good. congress has voted not to join

the public plan once it passes because they want to keep their good plan. would you be willing to urge congress to have federal employees joined the public plan or would you be built -- willing to urge congress to open up the federal health plan to all americans? >> i hear this all the time. >> it is a great question. understand that currently, federal employees have a very good health care plan because they are able to leverage the insurance companies. there are so many members of the federal work force that they can get the best rates possible. every insurance company wants to do business with the federal government so premiums are lower. the same concept is what we are trying to do in setting up a health insurance exchange.

it would be a marketplace where people who do not have health insurance for small businesses could pool their numbers so they have leverage over the insurance companies, and they could look at the various options that are being offered and choose the one that is best for their families. we are actually trying to duplicate what exists for federal employees. we want to make that available to everybody else. what we have said its let's make a public option one choice of many choices available to people who are joining the exchange. i see nothing wrong with potentially having that public option for one option for federal employees as well, but one thing i need to make clear is nobody would be obligated to choose obligated tooption. if you said -- of related to

issues that public option. you would be free to choose another plan other than the public plan. >> folks would love it if you say whatever it is we create, we in the executive branch will live with exactly these parameters. >> it would make perfect sense for us to make the public option available to federal employees as well, but it would just be a choice. >> traci it listens to us in indianapolis. your question for the president. >> thanks for taking my call. until i heard you say that a private auction is just a sliver of the health-care proposal, i think we thought that pretty

much was your proposal. >> i know. >> can you list five or six bullet points of what legislation must include for you to be willing to sign it? for instance, tort reform, illegal immigrants. >> i would be happy to. you mentioned illegal immigrants come at this has been an example of pure misinformation out there. -- you mentioned illegal immigrants, this has been misinformation. none of the proposals giving -- proposed giving coverage to illegal immigrants. that has never been on the table, so everybody who is listening out there come up when you hear that somehow this is designed to provide health insurance to illegal immigrants, that is not true. >> what is their fate? there is a law and the books that shows up -- that says if you show up at an er, you have to be treated.

>> that has to continue because we don't want a situation where some child who shows up with tuberculosis and nobody is giving them treatment, and they go back to the playground to play next to our kids. there is a basic standard of decency where if somebody is in a deaf -- a death situation, that we will provide them with emergency care, but no one has talked about providing health insurance to illegal immigrants. you had a good point about what are the bullet points that i want backs number one -- that i want. this has to be paid for, it has to be deficit-neutral. in the prescription drug benefit in the past, we never figured out how to pay for that. it went directly into the deficit. point number two, it has to bend

the cost curve. we have to create a plan that experts say will reduce health care inflation, because if all we're doing is adding more people but not controlling costs, that will blow up the deficit and it will blow of the burdens on individual families. we have to get control of our costs. we spend $6,000 more on any other events country -- we spent $6,000 more than any other advanced country. we need to make sure you can get health insurance even with a pre-existing condition. making sure insurance companies cannot drop you because you are sick or older or not as healthy. making sure that the basic insurance protections, that is important.

number four is i want to make sure we have a health exchange that is similar to what members of congress have, where you will have a set of options if you are a small business, you have trouble getting help insurance, you can look at options and we have to make it affordable for a middle-class family. part of the plan has to be that if you cannot afford a market- based premium, we are giving you a little bit of help. joyce, competition, reducing costs, those are the things i want to see accomplished. -- choice, competition, reducing costs. >> where does -- obesity is the single most important factor. how about rewarding those who get on a stairmaster every day? >> you are already seeing this

happen among many private companies. safeway has done a great job in helping encourage employees to get fit. they say you are going to save a certain amount on your insurance premiums. you will see that in your paycheck if you are taking steps to take care of yourself. i think creating incentives like that for prevention, creating cash incentives for people, i think that is something that should be part of this. >>joe listens to me in philadelphia. go ahead for the president. >> thank you for taking my call. >> how are you? >> i am scared out of my mind talking to you here. i am a supporter. >> i appreciate it. >> it feels like the neeneeds --

it feels like my knees are buckling a little bit. i am just not getting -- it is frustrating to watch you [inaudible] who are not willing to compromise. >> are your knees buckling? >> i guarantee you that we are going to get health care reform done. i know there are a lot of people who have been hand wringing and folks in the press are following every little twist and turn of the legislative process. passing a big bill like this is always messy. fdr was called a socialist when he passed social security. jfk and lyndon johnson were both accused of a government takeover of health care when they passed medicare. this is the process we go through, because the people have

a long tradition of being suspicious of government until the government does something that helps them and then they don't want anybody messing with it. i am confident we will get it done. as far as negotiations with republicans, my attitude has always been at let's see if we can get this done with some consensus. i would love to have more republicans engaged in this process. i think early on a decision was made by the republican leadership that said, let's not give them a victory. maybe we can have a replay of 1994 when clinton failed on healthcare and we won in the midterm elections. i think there are some folks who are taking a page out of that playbook, but this should not be a political issue. there are many of republicans who had been working constructively. one of them in maine has been

dedicated to this. they have been meeting in the senate finance committee. i want to give them a chance to work through these processes. >> we are happy to make compromises, but what we are not willing to do is give up on the principle that americans without health insurance should get it, that those with it should get a better deal and have consumer protections. we have to reduce health-care inflation so that everybody can keep the health care that they have. that will be my priority. >> today the scotts released a bomber because he has terminal cancer. your take on this? a lot of folks are disappointed. >> we have been in contact with the scottish government indicating that we objected to this. we thought it was a mistake. we are now in contact with the libyan government and want to

make sure that if this transfer has taken place, that he is not welcomed back, but instead should be under house arrest. we have also been in contact with families of the victims and indicated to them that we don't think this was appropriate. >> in each of our prior conversations, i spoke with feeling about the need for closure. we agreed relative to bin laden, and i have spoken about it extensively things that he said during the course of campaign played a critical role pertaining to the 2008 election. i would be derelict if i did not say today where are we? i knew we had a major victory with the number one person in the taliban, but pertaining to bin laden, where is it? >> we are continuing to ramp up the pressure in afghanistan.

we have what appears to be a successful election despite the taliban's effort to disrupt it. you have general the kristol over there and more troops -- general mccrystal over there. and you have the pakistani army actually fighting in an aggressive way. that is that we took out the top taliban leaders in pakistan who was also one of bin laden's key allies. the goal is to have a pincher, where we are squeezing them on both sides, eliminating their allies, making it more difficult for them to communicate, making it difficult for them to operate safe havens. what we hope to do over time is to flush them out. we will keep on putting pressure on them. i know it is at great cost. i have to sign letters to family

members who have fallen, and be a lot more are falling in afghanistan and iraq. -- and a lot more are falling in afghanistan. it will take some time. >> susan listens in new york city. go ahead for the president. >> banking very much mr. president for talking to us about this important issue. -- thank you very much. we all want reform. i guess it is a matter of what the best solution is. a lot of us feel the federal government is just not equipped to be getting involved in delivering health care services. we are very concerned, instead of taking care of people, the money will go to the cost of administering a huge government

bureaucracy. why not do something more like giving incentives to the state, like in new york we already have free health care for people who can afford it. -- for people who cannot afford it. it should only be for people who cannot afford it, not for those who choose to spend their money on other things. it is not free because we all know we will be paying for it. it should be only for the people who cannot afford it and we want to have our own health care decisions. we don't want the federal government making those decisions. >> is there a state solution here? >> first of all, it is important to understand part of the health reform proposal would involve the states. the states in some cases would be empowered to expand medicaid to cover more people.

the same way they have been able to cover more children under the new program. a sizable portion of the people who are uninsured would be getting their insurance through the states. that is how the current medicaid program is allowing states to cover more people. nobody is talking about the government administering all of health care, but we are talking about a public option people could sign up for, but they would have to operate like any private insurer. the track record for government in paris during health care is surprisingly good. -- track record for government is administering health care is surprisingly good. part of this is because someone is either qualified or they are not, so signing them up is more automatic. but that points to one of the

big problems, in the private insurance, big amounts of insurance companies are spending a lot of money just trying to cherry pick people who are healthy and signed them up and eliminate those who are sick. part of what to do here is reform the system so insurance companies are operating more fairly. if you are young it is easier to get health insurance these days. the tough population are folks who are from 50-64. maybe they just got laid off or a self-employed. we want to make sure there is a market for them. the last point i would make is you mentioned the fact that a lot of young people opt out. one of the things we will do is to say if you want, you can stay on your health insurance of your parents up to the age 26. that would cover a lot of this

kids whose first job does not necessarily offer them insurance. it gives them a way of having coverage until they get that job with more security. >> i appreciate the privilege of coming to the white house. thank you so much for being on my program. >> it was always a pleasure, and i want to thank all your listeners. there is a great dialogue that takes place on your show. i hope we can continue that dialogue to solve some of america's big problems. >> thank you so much. i will be back in a minute from the white house. ♪ ♪ >> more of the program after this. you don't need me to tell you

that our country is experiencing the worst crisis since the great depression. stocks have lost much of their value. the government is spending trillions of dollars in the attempt to bail us out. [inaudible] >> there you go. >> thank you very much. >> i appreciate it. i enjoyed it. thanks guys. >> thank you, sir. >> at 2:45, president obama heads to the democratic national committee to talk more about health care. he will participate in a conference call and on-line address to members of organizing for america, an organization based at the dnc. we will have live coverage here

on c-span. >> as the health-care conversation continues, the health-care hub is a key resource. go on line and follow the latest video ads and links. keep up-to-date with health care events like town hall meetings, house and senate debates, even upload your opinion with a citizen video. it is at c-span.org. >> we will take you back to the white house for today's briefing scheduled for 1:45 p.m. with robert gibbs. that is coming up live on c- span. until then, a portion of today's "washington journal." host: they changed their lead story. it began with a health care story featuring senator grassley, but this is now the lead. c a i -- cia hired firm for

assassin program. it is also the lead story in the ". new york "" lan to kill judge harvests -- g. hottest -- jihadists. here's the story -- according to current and former government officials. that is an unnamed source. executives for blackwater which generated controversy. they spent several million dollars on the program which did not successfully capture any terrorist suspects. the fact that they used an outline -- outside company was a major reason why the director became alarmed and told congress the agency had withheld details

american spy agencies have outsourced highly controversial work, but government officials said bringing outsiders into this program raised deep concerns about accountability. also today they printed a piece by an outgoing director of the ec i n -- director of the cia. the obama administration is expected to release more documents on the interrogation of terrorists. it will include a version of the report on the program. more legal opinions including one in which i rely -- many

intelligence professionals are asking why. the next phone call for the morning is new york city. caller: good morning. i will keep this short and simple. i think you are very well- versed but you could be more sensitive. we keep track of the number of calls. i am an avid c-span for -- added c-span folower. is it convenient for people to come to town hall meetings to argue against something that is beneficial to them in the long run, whether it is there relatives, is it based on a convenient racist attitude that is manipulated not buy them but he people that control the

environment to which they advocate? my point is c-span, being the most balanced news station, should ease up when it comes to promoting what is not good for john q. public, which is bigotry. host: what is an example? caller: as a person of color who knows his history. my family is native american, to know that we all need health care. some people pay for it and some people cannot afford to, but to call a president a nzi, to have -- to call it president a nazi, to be able to carry guns were the president is speaking. if i was to have a gun on my side and i am standing near the president, i am sure i will be taken to jail. how is it that the president of

the united states, i would never want anybody around george bush with a gun because he was my president. but to say is the right to bear arms, who is it a right for? all based on a health-care argument? why is it that the argument about big business is being bailed out, but when it comes to anything to have to do with the average person in this country, it cannot happen. that mind set goes back to slavery. when slavery was over, at the same manipulation of the public was done. keep them dumb and stupid. c-span, when somebody makes a comment, why don't you really correct some of the misinformation that is being

said on the air? host: thanks for the call. caller: i would like to say this thing about health care. we are saddling our american manufacturers with a 17% differential. because other countries are subsidizing the health care of their population. canada, our biggest trading partner, the reason all these cars, they also made in canada. it is because they have to subsidize their health care. these people who are against health care reform are really against the american

manufacturer, because he is not allowing [unintelligible] there is a 17% more that he has to charge for his products. the other thing about afghanistan, none of this would have happened if they just read the newspaper. thank you for your time. host: sandy on the independent line. caller: i would have to agree with the first caller from new york. my reason for calling is the afghani elections. if the people in this country are ignorant to believe that they attacked this country because they don't like our way of life is insane. the real problem is what these people have been doing all over the world. i would have like to ask your last guest if he could elaborate, but he can be in the left this out than why our

contractors from india dressed as civilians along the afghani /iranian border building roads. why did he leave that out? people need to wake up in this country and what these people are all about. thank you for allowing me to speak my word. host: margaret on the republican line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have a question regarding the health care debate. all of our representatives in alabama are republican and i have been waiting for them to have a town hall meetings so that we can join in the debate. i have heard nothing. i had written to our representative and the only response i get is that they are opposed to the president's plan,

but there is nothing about what republicans proposals are to do something about the cost of health care. i would like for someone to challenge the republicans to find out what it is they are proposing we do about the rising cost of health care. host: next comment comes from vermont this is ron on the democrats' line. caller: i believe that more science needs to be put into this debate. in other words, how many people in america are really satisfied when they go to a doctor that what they get really fix is their problem? i don't think you will see a lot of [unintelligible] i would like to see some data that says how many people are really sick. how many times do they go to the doctor in europe compared to hear? i think you will find if

germany had to support our life style the way we eat, the way we take vaccines, all these things are really illegal in some foreign countries. tmo's, gulf war syndrome has been tied to vaccines. just the amount of these toxins that are in our foods, i think americans are true the thicker than the rest of the world in having a non-profit system will not cure this problem. host: americans about to get another cash for clunkers program on home appliances. federal rebates will be available for purchasers of high

efficiency household appliances. congress authorized $300 million for the program as part of the federal stimulus bill. atlanta is up next on the independent line. caller: good morning, you do a great job. i was hoping to get through to speak with general west. anybody who thinks the forces in afghanistan and iraq for any reason other [unintelligible] i have some beachfront property on the moon where they can buy real estate. a friend of mine e-mail and gave me this website. i went there and bought a book that was just written. i highly recommend it to everyone, because there are some scenarios going on and they are using racial things to get

everybody at each other's throats. educate yourselves and thanks again. host: next up is john from orlando on the republican line. caller: i just want to defend you on the general call earlier. host: no problem. caller: they don't want to hear anybody else's point of view but there is. host: i would rather hear the complaints and have people being frustrated. caller: 2 that gentleman's call, he did not have an issue with folks: barack obama a nazi, i totally disagree with that. it is amazing how many people have a short memory with posters that identified bush as hitler. and leaders in the house also and the things they had to say

about bush. not one time did bush ever say anything about his opposition. the fact that he had eight shoe thrown at him and other people took glee in that. i wish people would get away from the name calling all together which distracts us from the issue at hand, which is the issue being debated stop being so emotional about this. whether it is barack obama or a republican, we should not take lee in [unintelligible] it is about the greatness in this country and the things we need to do to make this nation the greatest in the world. host: the word is out from scotland. you knew that there was going to be a decision about whether not the bomber would be freed on compassionate grounds because he has terminal prostate cancer.

the ap has just said that the justice minister has freed the bomber on compassionate grounds despite protests from the united states. next telephone call from pittsburg on the democrat mind. caller: thank-you for c-span. i want to enumerate some previous callers' comments about health care. the first few town hall meetings i watched on c-span, i believe it was senator specter's senate town hall. there was a town hall from maryland and one from one of the most conservative districts in texas. in both of these senators town hall meetings people were yelling and screaming at them.

basically spitting lies that the right has spat all the time about health care. in the conservative town hall they were very quiet and let him get in some of the same things. i would like to see c-span treat those lies whenever a caller calls in with them come at the same if a democratic person calls in with a conspiracy theory like the conspiracy theory that was the bush and ministration was behind the 9/11 attacks. -- the bush administration. immediately hang up on the person. that is just my feeling and i would appreciate if you do that. host: next up is henry on the independent line.

caller: forgive me if i stumbled through this. by mn 85-year-old deadbeat. -- i sm sn -- i am an 85-year- old deadbeat. nobody ever mentioned about the lobbyists. i suggest they put a proposal on one of the ballots, preferably the presidential ballot, for people to vote yes or no whether they should ban lobbyists from washington or the hill, and yes or no. the other thing is in any election there never should be a majority of anybody, that because nothing is ever settled. another thing i want to say is, the congress is trying to push the health care bill through.

they are trying to shove that down our throats. that is trying to put a toothpick in to stop a leak. it should not go through period, but i would like to see their proposal being done on the ballot because lobbyists are absolutely running the country and they should be stopped. they are also ruining our country. i appreciate you taking my call. host: tanks for making it. next is a call from jeffrey on the republican lawn -- on the republican line. caller: i wonder why the reporters on social security don't go back and look at when social security was set up. it could not be touched, it could not be borrowed against, it had an abundance of money.

congress decided to borrow money against it and expand programs, give it to other programs, and now they are saying social security is going broke. congress broke the social security system, but reporters left that lie. a am just wondering why everybody let's that full by the wayside. host: her next call is from missouri. caller: to wanted to call to mr. west, but he was completely wrong. paul would have told us before the iraq fiasco that the war would be paid for with $50 billion and it would come out of the iraqi oil. where is the iraqi oil seven or

eight at -- seven or eight years after this? we have murdered over 1 million i iraqis. the reason i say murdered is because everybody put these experts from the pentagon know that we went into iraq based on a line that should have george bush, dick cheney in jail, but they are not. we are not going to win in iraq. did you see all the bombs go off yesterday? we will not win in afghanistan. people know we are over there to steal their resources. if you look at the american history, that is what we do. look at what we're doing in south america, are mean colombia to fight venezuela. -- arming colombia to fight venezuela. people who believe 9/11 was caused by hijackers is insane.

they just need to commit suicide because they have no sense. it is just murder. host: next is donna on the independent line. caller: i have three comments and a question. first of all, the republicans and democrats could get lots of campaign money from the health insurance companies and have taxpayer funded health insurance want to block it for the average citizen. then there are the senior citizens who have taxpayer funded medicare and want to block it for the intergenerational. they are helping to pay for their medicare and might live longer with preventative health insurance, and with this pay-as- you-go system, that you would think the seniors would want to keep their grandchildren alive of little longer. then they would be paying their social security taxes and

medicare is going to go over bankrupt. the seniors are not using their brains. they have been brainwashed by insurance companies and the media. for all the supposed christians cannot remember the golden rule, if you want preventative health care -- for all the christians, remember if you want preventative health care for yourself, you should want it for your neighbors. lastly, there are too sick to vote on the health insurance reform bill. why aren't there governors replacing them? host: he mentioned the health insurance industry. there is one story printed the day. health insurance group alleges bullying by congressional panel. they accused democrats of

mounting a fishing expedition as to whether to honor a request for financial records. a spokesman said democrats hoped to silence the health-insurance industry and distract attention away from the fact that american people are rejecting a government-run plant. a spokesman said tuesday night that 52 letters had been sent out to help insurers that have $2 billion or more in annual premiums. among the records requested are those related to companies of highly paid employees and claims payments and information on expenses stemming from any event held outside the company's. letters were signed by henry waxman of california. next call is kentucky.

caller: thanks for taking my call. i am a conservative and i want to applaud the conservatives' standing up all over the country and letting their voices be heard with the health care issues and the cap and trade issue. i have some good news to report about an organization. i am taking my 86-year-old uncle who served as a marine in world war ii to the monument next week. it is my honor to do that. host: what is it all about? caller: he is a veteran of world war ii. we are going to d.c. host: how are you finding it? caller: the organization is called honr flight.

they have flown over 30,000 world war ii veterans for no charge to see their memorial. it is my honor to attend with him next week. a couple of callers ago a man said we murdered people that our country murders people. i would like to remind him that over 3000 people were killed at the new york trade center in 2001. that was murder. don't forget it america. thank you. host: arizona is next on the democratic line. caller: i have been following the various town hall meetings and i noticed a question continually comes up in every one of these meetings more than once. that is, if the plan is so good,

why don't you take it? i think it expresses a tactic that probably would slam dunk the bill, which is if the president would say i will be the first customer and i will not sign this bill until it is good enough for me and my family, and go on some place like c-span and ask questions of the people who wrote the bill and health care professionals, and refrained the debate. if he is willing to be the first customer and he can hold up a card where he signs it and says i in the first customer, a lot of the fear it would go away. it is simply fear that is driving this. i think i thinkoption is necessary to maintain costs. -- i think the public option is

necessary. i think it would solve everything. he needs to step up and say i am the first customer. host: immediate reaction from the white house on the decision to release the bomber from prison today on compassionate grounds. the united states regrets the decision by the scottish executive to release him. he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the bombing of the flight that blew up in 1988. that we have expressed repeatedly, we continue to believe he should serve out his sentence in scotland. we extend our deepest sympathies to the families who live with a loss of their loved ones. we know these effects way on a family forever. the next telephone call is from florida on the independent line. caller: how are you doing this morning?

people need to know the truth about what is going on. . .

caller: you also have other people like mitch mcconnell received money. joe lieberman, all these people received $6.3 million, $5.9 million. republicans, democrats, independents received money. they are say they don't want something. i am not against anybody making money. the and my wife are a small business owner. if you own and $11 million home, you will make more than that. >>"washington journal" is live every day at 7:00. we will now go to the white house for the daily briefing.

>> hold on one second. just one quick announcement to read before we get started. the president spoke today with king abdallah of jordan. they discussed efforts to advance middle east peace and how the u.s. and jordan could achieve this goal together. the president and the king agreed on that need to launch israeli-palestinian talks immediately. they agreed that all parties should take steps simultaneously to create a context in which these negotiations can succeed. the president underscored the strong support for jordan's effort to work with other arab states to -- to injured -- to work with israel. special envoy michel would follow up with the partisan next few weeks to finalize a steps

for the resumption of negotiations. with that, >> now that you have brought it up, did king abdallah agree in any way with the president's call for about wider arab world >> that is the role of king abdallah has played in helping to foster an environment where peace is possible. i hesitate to characterize their side of the conversation. i am leery to do that. the president is hopeful that the meetings that he has had this week and a phone call today -- and the phone call today that we are on the path to create peace in the middle east. >> does that optimism rise or

fall? >> i think the optimism continues to rise. we are hopeful and we understand that the road ahead will not be easy. it is a complex and emotional set of issues that we look forward to working through. yes sir? >> two questions -- first of all, what does the administration's decision to remove the $250 billion placeholder from the budget say about your take a on bank health? >> when we met in this room months ago at the introduction of the budget, there was some concern, based on the health and stability of our financial system, that more money might be required. the president administration felt, in order to be transparent

about our posting process, that we should include that marker in there. removing it underscores the efforts that have been taken to rescue and rebuild the economy through financial stabilization. another conversation we had as part of this was at the introduction of the bank stress tests. there was a lot of consternation that at the end of these tests, we would likely need hundreds of billions of extra dollars that we now realize that banks were able to take steps and actions to raise almost all of that money from private capital. i think that is obviously a good thing. we have discussed pulling the economy back from the brink and

particularly the financial sector back from that brink. in order to restore some confidence. we have seen banks pay back with interest, the money the taxpayers used to stabilize the system. one of the results of this is at the midsession resume -- review, we expect a recession to be $1.58 trillion instead of the $8 trillion that the administration and congressional budget office believed it would be the case just a few months ago. part of that is the $250 billion that is not needed because of the stability as a result of the actions taken on the financial system. there are outlays that are $78 billion less.

>> taking those out, that makes sense that it would show confidence in the financial industry. how would you describe the budget situation itself? is it improving or is the budget situation -- >> it continues to be a great challenge. i have talked in here about one of the best ways to bring down our budget deficit is to get fiscal responsibility is to get our economic house in order and get the economy back on track. it is no surprise, if you look back at the course of the last six or seven months, for most of that time, we have seen the economy in a very steep decline. it was in a steeper decline, in some ways, than anyone predicted. the budget picture will demonstrate that resulting deterioration. it continues to be a hefty

challenge. yes. yes, sir? >> the spokesman for the senate majority leader, harry reid, said that while they intend that it will be a bipartisan health care reform, they will get health care reform accomplished by any legislative means necessary. i am wondering if you could walk us through what people in the white house have been talking about and strategizing about different ways that this can be done. could you comment on the story today about the discussions about possible splitting up the bill and also, what are the thoughts? we all know that your intention is that it be a bipartisan bill. beyond that, what are you waiting for? >> i read the story in "the washington journal per-ñrq." many people are on vacation so

we will give you better guidance in terms of splitting of the bills. it also said the president would meet with advisers next week on this. unless that is a meeting that includes a golf course, -- >> that was supposed to be on the budget. >> maybe johnson can clear up for both of us. >> are you going to take questions? >> it sounds like he needs to. let me discuss a little bit. obviously, our focus, as i said yesterday, is on continuing this process in a bipartisan fashion. you heard the president say that again today. he reached out and as spoke with members of congress, including members of the finance

committee, over the last several days. yes. he talked with senator olympia snowe and senator conrad. he talked with senator baucus on friday. that is our focus, continuing to work this in a bipartisan way. the six senators on the finance committee have a conference call scheduled tonight. >> why isn't the president -- is the president on a conference call? >> not that i'm aware of. i think this is part of the regular negotiating sessions they have that we have not taken part of. i am trying to get to the extent of the conversations have had, looking into what possibilities are next.

i talked to the president briefly about it. he only said our focus was to do something in a bipartisan way. >> do you agree with by any means necessary? >> i think the president has said on number of occasions -- excellent, thank you -- >> what is that? >> that is water. all he did was mentioned that our focus was in doing something in a bipartisan way. i think he will continue, even when he is out next week, to talk to members of congress, including additional members of the finance committee. >> republicans conspired during the clinton administration against health reform.

why do you think he can break through that and why do you need them? >> as i said yesterday, we take people seriously that say they are working and want to work on a bipartisan results for health care reform. i cannot think the president is under any illusions that he will get every republican to sign up for his ideas. the health committee approved legislation with nearly 200 republican amendments that have been added. i think he continues to be hopeful and that we can continue to make progress. until we see other was, that is what our focus is. >> all the republicans are against it? >> we take at face value that the republicans you read about in the newspaper are interested in working on a bipartisan solution to reform the problems that we all understand and health care.

-- in health care. that is what we are working on. that is what i assume will be discussed on a conference call tonight. >> the house republican leaders said they sent a letter to the president in may, asking to work together on health care reform. they said there was no follow-up from the white house in terms of meetings. >> they have been down here to talk about health care. i will check. i don't know that it has been since may or not. i will up to check to see what meetings have taken place. >> do you think it is helpful to have a top union official threatening democratic members of the dollar supported public option, unions will help defeat them in 2010? >> i will not get into the back and forth. i think the president believes that, as you've heard again --

as you heard him say again, the president wants to work with all members of congress in both parties. he reiterated what he said earlier many times on the public option. >> he has been showing flexibility as well. how could that be helpful to the president for some of his own allies in organized labor threatening fellow democrats. it does not sound like flexibility on his part. >> i cannot speak for everybody in the party. i can only speak for the president. we believe it is important. if we did not believe it was important, we would not be undertaking this to get a bipartisan agreement. i think we have agreement on many issues that are important to get health care reform done. we have progress that still needs to be made. i think that is what the senate finance committee continues to meet. >> there were various ports

today about the cia fall -- hiring black water around 2004 to help assassinate al qaeda leaders. the cia director has shut the program down. moving forward, why is the obama administration still using black water as a contractor? >> i would have to look and see what the extent of the use is end directed to the cia. >> it was said in pittsburgh that the president has to balance national security with transparency. how do you define that? >> i would feel more comfortable talking about this when i have information on the conference. yes sir? >> the president made a common about the republican leadership making a decision. >> that's what happens when he is done with the proposal.

>> that this uneasy one today. [applause] [laughter] the president said that republican leadership made a decision to oppose him. is this political analysis or what -- he knows this as a fax? >> i thank it is deducing from comments that he has read -- i think it is the zoos and -- it is deducing from comments he has read. > i think there is a difference between some members of the republican party. i think you have seen members of the president mentions. i think you have to go farther than that. i think that represents the leadership.

's paper, you will find a at the number of comments by the leadership you just mentioned. there is a difference between republicans in leadership who have decided long ago that they have no interest in working with the president. >> when did you guys give up on them? >> i think we would be willing to work with them if they were willing to work with us. we have talked about this before. this has to be a two-way street. the president went to speak to the republican caucus about the recovery plan. one hour before and of the white house, the republican leadership in congress announced their opposition to the plan for the president was going to come and talk about it and take your questions. -- and take their questions. the president has an open hand. he is ready to work with anybody is ready to work with him. the president can only do so much for the president can want

to work with you but if you don't want to work with him, you will not drive your car down that two-way street. did i always find it curious that they put out a statement in opposition of a plan before the president was going to talk about it? that's kind of weird. if i gave you an answer to your question before you ask the question, you know. it seems all off. >> when was the last time you talk to senator grassley? >> i will ask the folks. it has not been this week. i am trying to remember when they left. >> is the white house curious why he is still involved with the comments he has been making? >> no. >> should he be involved in the negotiations? >> we take his comments seriously that he believes we should continue to seek a bipartisan solution. i think senator block -- bacchus

believes that he is making progress with senator grassley. senator grassley feels like we're making progress and we hope that we get something that he thinks is good for health care reform. >> he cities won't vote for the bill muzzy it's a huge number of republicans. >> that is a good question for the huge number of republicans. >> the president was asked if he was getting a little weak need. >> it was helen. >> i don't know joe. is he going into this netroots online questioning session today expecting to get flak from his base? >> my sense is that when we talk to our supporters, when we talk to a town hall meetings, there are people that have questions and concerns. there are people that support us.

the president looks forward to dealing with whatever questions are out there. today was a good example. i forget the name of the caller but i think it was one of the first ones, a female caller, who said that until the president says that she doesn't want that -- that he doesn't want to take over health care, that is the impression she said. i watched programs this week where people have said illegal immigrants will get health care as a result of this bill despite the fact that the president said six weeks ago that was not true. he said that 26 minutes ago. we will see if those rumors can finally be put to bed, based on the truth. >> wouldn't the american-born children of the emigrants be eligible for health care? >> i don't know what the provisions are. i would have to look at that aspect of the bill. different public policy has

carved out different exceptions for that group of people despite their citizenship. >> on lockerbee, the president said we called libya and discussed the idea of putting this guy under house arrest did he personally make that call? >> our folks in libya have discussed with the libyan government exactly what the president said one minute ago. he said this individual ought to be treated -- let me say this -- we oppose and deeply regret the decision that has been made for release. our officials in libya talk with the government in delivering two

primary messages. first, this individual should be treated as he always ought to be, a convicted mass murderer that took part in a terrorist activity in december of 1988 that killed several hundred people, including almost 200 americans. secondly, we expressed our concern about the release and believe that the libyans should treat the individual as someone who should be under house arrest. that was communicated through american officials in libya directly with the libyan government request that would be the u.s. embassy. >> yes. >> did you get a response? >> some of that communication happen as early as today.

>> there is wall-to-wall live coverage of the release. we appreciate the president's comments. this release has occurred despite protests of the administration. what effect do you think this will have on agreements of this nature between the u.s., the u.k., and other nations in the future? >> i hesitate to speculate about the future. it is important to reiterate our deep regret that the decision was made. our deep condolences is with the families who have lived with the loss of a loved one as a result of these horrific acts. we wish that this decision had not been made. >> some say that certain individuals are wondering where the outrageous?

>> the elkridge has been expressed directly to the governments that have made these -- the outrage has been expressed directly to the governments that made these decisions. our actions have been -- because we have direct concern about this decision. >> what does this do to the so- called special relationship between the united states sent -- >> i think it is best today to discuss where we are. do you have a followup on that? i cannot imagine. regrettably, yes. >> on this point, might there be any steps the u.s. would take that might amount to repercussions in exchange for --

taken against the u.k. or scotland's? >> not that i'm aware but i will ask him. >> if they agree to put under house arrest -- >> i will check on that. >> from the british were scottish governments, did they contact the united states to explain the reasoning? >> i assume we have had discussions with them. folks here registered on behalf of our government and this administration and our country, the deep regret and opposition we have to the decision being made. >> [no audio[inaudible] >> the president called cash for clunkers a success. how can that be turned around? how can the dealers pull themselves out of the program? >> this has been a very successful program.

dealers have sold cars like the have not solved and in quite some time. manufacturers are producing cars like they have not in quite some time. workers have been hired again to make those cars to replace that inventory like they have not in quite some time. this is, without a doubt, an unqualified success. the president discussed that we have edit people to process and triple the number of people to process applications that are coming in. we understand that some of the frustration. it is also helpful to understand that we cannot -- we have seen applications that are illegally in complete. there are ones that don't fit the requirements for it that requires us to go back to the dealer to get additional information. as the president said, it would be illegal for us to send to a

dealer check for an application that was not complete. you would be asking me if we did that white's -- wehy the chevy dealership got all these checks based on your investigation on applications that did not apply still law. we are doing everything in our power to expedite the processing of these applications. it's a program that has been successful for consumers, dealers, manufacturers, and workers. >> can someone today feel confident that they will get the money? >> absolutely. that is with the secretary of transportation has said. that is what the president has said. i think this has been a highly successful program. >> about the lockerbie incident, the president said the administration reach out to the families of the victims of the bombing. can you tell us how that as

happens? has the president called? >>nsc officials communicated the likelihood of a decision that would be made to express to the families the actions that the administration had taken with u.k. and scottish officials about an impending decision. they expressed condolences for what had happened. >> that was handled through the nsc? >> the nfc and john brennan. >> there are a couple of reports about xm bank for offshore drilling. can you give us an ministration take on exploration in brazil is a good idea and good for the u.s. economy? >> i have not seen that story. >> and the stern told abc, talking about how the health

care that he thinks we're talking losing control of congress if health care fails. it would totally empower republicans to kill all chain. it is hard to believe that the democrats could convince the american public that the republicans are to blame. is there anything the white house disagrees in that sentiment? >> i have not seen the comments. i do not know if the president has. we're not making decisions about health care, the economy, cash for clunkers, banks, anything based on polling, or congressional elections. our focus is on reminding people what is at stake in health care

reform, reminding millions of americans that we cannot afford to wait, dealing with misimpressions and fled out lies about what is involved in this bill, and that is what his job will continue to be. i will let interest groups worry about whatever they want to worry about. >> in the conference call yesterday, the president said he did not want government bureaucrats interfering or meddling with people's insurance. he did not want insurance company bureaucrats meddling. does that mean no bureaucrats would be involved? who would be involved? is he talking about a world of patients and doctors? >> ne world where doctors and patients make decisions, absolutely. he said it sitting in air hangar in montana. >> is a private practice your

government bureaucracy? >> we don't want the government making health care decisions for doctors and individuals. the president does not believe health insurance companies should make those determinations either. when they decide that you are too sick or when they decide -- i am sure you could go on the air and get 100 yours to call in who have dealt with their insurance company and found that they have had to go through extra paper work because originally a tree and was denied or some extra hurdle was put in place that they had to jump over in order to receive the treatment that they deserved. that should not happen. what in the world is that? those decisions should not be made by someone sitting in the

cuban government or someone sitting in a cubicle in an insurance company. >> the president says is not -- >> we will take you live to the democratic national committee headquarters where president barack obama will talk with party activists on health care legislation. it is hosted by a group calle. >> i am calling in from new jersey where i am here helping my good friend john korff resigned. [applause] we have some new jersey folks there. the work that the president has done to take health care insurance reform farther than any american president has been inspiring but we have more work to do. i want to share a little bit about the work that has been done thus corporate center early june, organizing for america has collected more than 1 million declarations in support of president obama's health

insurance reform principles. you have organized 12,000 event in all 50 states. just last week, more than 60,000 organizing for america volunteers stopped by their congresspersons local office to show their support for health insurance reform. we are closer than ever but we are not done. we have interest groups out there fighting change and often resorting to a very extreme measures to fight change, misinformation, rudeness, bizarre tactics, shouting. this will call for us to be super diligence over the next couple of weeks in order to make this happen. i know we will do it because we are in for the right reasons which is about the health of all americans. as the governor of virginia, i have over 1 million virginians who have no health insurance. those who do have health insurance, are always worried about having their health

insurance canceled, having their premiums go up dramatically every year, and that is why this reform is so important. this afternoon, president barack obama will update us on the work that has been done to pass real health insurance reform so far. he will lay out the strategy and our message going forward so that we can be successful. finally, he will take your questions, which i know you'll be involved in good dialogue with the president. this is a great opportunity. i am so happy that many of you have chosen to come on the part of it, either at the dnc office or all over the united states by phone or computer. i will pass it over to jeremy byrd, who is the national deputy director of ofa. thank you and i am glad you are participating. [applause] thank you, governor.

>> we are clearly clapping for the governor. thank you, governor, for joining us today the a founder agha to the hundreds of thousands of folks were watching this via web cast and the folks or listen on the fun and thank you to all of you, the best activists and organizers in the country for being here. before we get started, i want to make sure that introduce you to mitch stewart, he is the managing director of organizing for [applause] america] he will be moderate some of the questions when the president arrives. before the president speaks to us all today, i wanted to take a few minutes to talk to all of you about the impressive an unprecedented organizing work that you have done over the past seven months since organizing for america has been

in existence. we'll talk about that and we will talk about the task ahead and what we have planned. let's start with what you all have accomplished. i will focus mostly on the on told stories. the story of our meticulous and tireless work in all parts of this country, in every state, in every county, in every neighborhood, in every precinct of this nation. we'll start with a couple of things. the first thing is, over 1.5 million of you have taken action since we launched our health insurance reform on june 6. that was 10 weeks ago. that is 1.5 million people. they are folks like ida. i think she is in the room, from virginia, who went into her community and talk to americans about the need for health care reform. she has talked to them about her story and got them to sign health care decorations across this country.

during that period of time, you have posted nearly 12,000 local events. think about that. as 1200 vans across this country every week. that is for the last 10 weeks in support of health insurance reform. that is 171 events every day across this country from as far away as alaska to the tip of maine. you also put a real face to the need for health insurance reform in this country. there are folks like allie from north carolina who has battled cancer and on and inspired volunteers across her state to get out and do the same man talk about the need for urgent reform. there are folks like khalid from pittsburgh who i was fortunate -- kelly from emmitsburg who told about the need for health care reform. you had one-on-one conversations on the porches with your

neighbors, on the phone, around the kitchen table, around the water cooler at work. you also had conversations with members of congress. just last week, over 64,000 of view went in and visited at the office of your member of congress, in one week. you thank them for their hard work and let them know that you are in support of health insurance reform in 2009. in addition to that, despite what you will hear on some of the cable news and with some of the naysayers and cynics, you have outnumbered folks at town hall meetings across the country. that is not enough. there is a lot of work ahead. as we move forward, we will continue to do some of the same things that we have been doing for the last 10 weeks. in addition to that, we have 19 days before your members come back to washington and we get to work on getting health care reform done this year.

during that time, we will post across the country, a series of events for health insurance reform. if you were watching on what cast, you can go right below me and you can put in your zip code and find an event that is happening in the next 19 days and sign up. if there is no then near you, you can sign up to host one perry will get this done if you take action now. we will continue that action throughout the fall. it is my distinct pleasure, before we hear from the president, to introduce one of the champions oneofa and health insurance reform, representative debbie wasserman schultze from florida's 20th district. she is the dnc and vice chair. over the last 10 weeks, as you have been organizing, she has been working tirelessly here in washington and in her district, told a conference calls across the country with women who are interested in health insurance reform. she goes to press conferences and did everything she could to

make sure that together we get health insurance reform in 2009. i want to welcome a deadbeat wasserman [applause] schultze] >> thank you very much. thank you. jeremy, thank you so much. 92 all the ofa staff. governor kaine, if you can hear me, that you for your leadership, as well. i am delighted to be here. i really know that you'll join me in looking forward to hearing the president and his remark shortly. we all worked so hard to let this president because we wanted to bring real change to this country. our challenge as did not stop, election day. now, we have to act boldly, to fix a broken system that costs too much, covers too few, and compromises quality care. this is our moment. we are united by our shared commitment to insure that every

american has access to quality affordable health care and that we end the unfair practices of the health insurance industry. some say that this is the wrong time for reform of this magnitude. i disagree. it is precisely the right time. families across america have reached the breaking point. let's not forget, many of these same critics said our nation was not ready for this president, either. [laughter] they were wrong then and they are wrong now. [applause] thank you, thank you. real reform will not be easy. we know that change worth having does not come easy. when congress returns in september, there will be hard bargaining and hard choices. nothing is more important than making sure that every american has quality affordable health coverage that cannot be taken away from them.

[applause] thank you. we have to be ready for the defenders of the status quo will continue to ratchet up the volume and pull out all the stops. we need you to help the american people see past the distortions and pass the scare tactics, to bring about real change that we desperately need. many of you are out there right now working so hard to build support for the president's plant. we need you to keep volunteering, organizing, pounding the pavement, and working the phones so that the american people know that this plan will lower their costs, improve quality, in short choice, and expand coverage is the most sweeping reform of our generation and it is right within our grasp. we must seize it. [applause] thank you. we have been down this road before. we have done this before.

you have done this before. now we must do it again together. we will pass health insurance reform this year. [applause] and now, thank you so much -- now, it is my distinct pleasure to introduce one of our super- volunteers from chester, va., beth kimbrielle. [applause] >> hello, volunteers spread i am from chester, virginia. i was a volunteer during the campaign last year. in the spring, i started volunteering with organizing for america. i got involved with the campaign and i have stayed involved because i believe that we must change this country.

i continue to find barack obama to be the one public figure in my lifetime who has the vision, ideas, passion, and commitment to bring the change that we must bring to this country. i was trained as a community organizer and now, i am one of 13 lead volunteers in my state. i got involved in the campaign because of one man paused vision which restored my vote for this country. my involvement in health insurance reform is deeply personal. right now, our system works better for the insurance companies than it does for regular people. that is why i have been organizing people in my community to get health care insurance reform passed in 2009. i am proud to be doing this work. thousands of people in my area have signed on already.

we will keep working. person by person, block by block, until we get it done. [applause] and now it is my incredible honor to introduce to you the president of the united states, president barack obama. [applause] >> thank you, everybody. a. thank you. yes we can. [chanting] thank you, thank you everybody.

please have a seat. this looks like a casual crowd. [laughter] i will take off my jacket. let me begin by thanking beth for the great and production and -- for the great introduction and great dedication she showed throughout the campaign but more importantly, trying to actually get something i want to thank congresswoman deadbeat wasserman schultze. where did she go? [applause] i hear you are on a scooter. i want to see that. [laughter] that is pretty cool. always stylish. [laughter] i want to abolish my great friend tim kaine who joined us earlier by phone and is doing great for the people of virginia and democrats across the country. to all of my organizing for america volunteers, thank you so much for your unbelievable dedication.

it is good to [applause] be here] [applause] it is great to be here with all of you because it reminds him of how we got here in the first place. we are here because you believed that after an era of selfishness and greed, that we could reclaim a sense of responsibility and a sense that we have obligations to each other, not just here in washington, but all across the country. you believe that instead of growing inequality, we could restore a sense of fairness and balance to our economic life and create lasting growth and prosperity. you believed that in a time of war and turmoil, that we can stand strong against our enemies but also stand firmly for our ideals and reach out to the rest of the world and describe to them what america is about and how we can forge together a world of common interests and common concerns. that is the change that you

believed in. that is what you worked so hard, knocking on doors and making phone calls in the hot sun and cold winds and sometimes having doors slammed in your faces and your family member is asking you why you're doing this. [laughter] because this guy has no chance. [laughter] that is something i will never forget. we all know that winning the election was just the beginning. i said this on election night. i said at the inauguration. somehow, i think maybe people thought was fooling. i was serious. winning the election was just the start. victory in an election was not the change that we saw. it had to manifest itself in the real day-to-day lives of ordinary americans all across the country. i know that folks like beth and all of you at ofa have been

working to make that change, doing the same things you were doing during the campaign, going block by block, neighbor by neighbor, having doors slammed in your faces, and people asking why you're doing this. just so you don't lose heart, as we enter into probably our toughest fight, let's recall what we have already gotten done. not one month into this administration, we respond to the worst financial crisis since the great depression by putting in place a sweeping economic recovery program that has already made an enormous difference in people's lives. you've got millions of people who have unemployment insurance and got cobra so they can keep their health insurance and states that have been able to avoid layoffs of teachers, firefighters. we have a tax cut for 95% of working families. that is a campaign promise. we have made good on it.

thousands of people are being put back to work across the country rebuilding roads and hospitals. as a consequence of everything we did in that first month, we have been able to seek a stabilization of the financial system where many economists thought we would be dipping into a great depression. obviously, we're not out of the woods yet but we have taken steps to address the housing crisis and keep people in their homes. we had made tough choices to keep the financial and automotive sectors from collapsing which would have further shocked our economy. that is on the economic side. in the meantime, we lifted the ban on stem cell research. we expanded health insurance programs to 11 million more children across the country [applause] ] we passed a national service bill that will give thousands of americans opportunities to serve. [applause] i get all choked up talking about [laughter]

get past the lillie lebtter act to make sure that women are treated the same way as men. we passed legislation to protect consumers from unfair rate hikes and abuse of fees for credit card companies and some of those rules went into effect today. we pass laws to protect our children from marketing by tobacco manufacturers. we have prohibited torture. we have begun to leave for iraq to its people. we have taken the fight to al qaeda in afghanistan and pakistan and rebuild our military and we are restoring our alliances and our standing in the world. not a bad track record. [applause] we should be proud of what we have accomplished. we are not satisfied. we should be confident but not

complacent. we have more work to do and promises to keep their one of those promises is to achieve quality affordable health care for every single american and that is what we intend to do when congress is back in session [applause] we all know this has been an emotional debate. we have seen tempers flare, accusations have been hurled, and sometimes it seems like one loud voice can drown out all the sensible voices out there. remember one thing, nothing is more powerful the millions of voices calling for change. that is how we won this election. you know this and that is why ofa launch the health care reform in june, you have done 11,000 events and more than 2500 towns in every single state and every single congressional district. [applause] this is remarkable.

and of course, the tv cameras are not there when you are doing all this. [laughter] and when you notice that nobody is paying attention to what your doing, remember at that we have been through this before. some of you were involved when we were in iowa. we were 30 points down. all of washington said it is over. there was hand-wringing and tanks and teeth gnashing and last year, about this time, you will recall that the republicans had just nodded their vice presidential candidate and the media was obsessed with it and cable was 24 hours a day and obama has lost his mojo. [laughter] you remember all that? [laughter] there is something about august

going into september [laughter] where everybody in washington gets all we-weed up. i don't know what it is. that is what happens. instead of being preoccupied with the polls and with the pundits and with the cable chatter, what you guys consistently did was keep on working. you worked steadily, deliberately, sensibly, knocking on doors, talking to people, talking to your co-workers, just giving people the facts, explaining to them a vision of how we will move forward. that is what we will have to do today. we will have to cut through a lot of nonsense out there. there's a lot of cert claims that have been made about health insurance reform. there was a poll done that some of you may have seen where "the wall street journal-nbc poll"

that says a huge amount of people are convinced that illegal immigrants will get health care and that it is a government takeover of health there are legitimate issues out there. what we will have to do is to cut through the noise and the misinformation and the best ambassadors for true information, factual

information, is all of you. you have more credibility than anybody on television when it comes to your family members and your friends and your neighbors. that is why you being involved is so important for a i don't have to explain why it is important to pass health reform for the 46 million people who do not have health insurance. it is just as important that americans who do have health insurance, which are the majority of americans, that they understand what health reform means for them. let me just make sure i try to get some bullet points. right now, the system works very well for the insurance companies but it does not work so well for the american people. first, no matter what you have heard, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor under the reform proposals we put forth. if you like your private health insurance plan, you can keep it. if your employer provides you health insurance on the job, nobody is talking about messing with that.

if you do not have health insurance, we do intend to provide you with high quality affordable options. that is not just poor pe3áko don't of health insurers. many poor americans have health insurance under medicaid. mostly, it is working americans who do -- don't have health insurance on the job or self- employed americans or small- business owners or people who work for small business owners. we want to give the main menu of options that they can choose from and then a little bit of help in terms of making their premiums more affordable. that is absolutely critical. one of the options we want to provide them as a public auction. this has been a confusion -- [applause] perez been a lot of confusion about this. let me just clarify -- i think a public auction is imported. let me explain why. we will have a marketplace where people can select the options

that work best for them, the insurance plan that works best for them. many of those choices, the order whelming majority will be private insurance options, like members of congress have. they are allowed to choose from various proposals for various plans that are part of the federal employees' health plan. if we have a public auction in there, that can help insurers honest, it can provide a benchmark for what an affordable basic plan should look like, even though we have a bunch of insurance regulations that ensure that any private insurer that is participating in the exchange is giving you a fair deal, this is like the belt and suspenders concept. it means that not only do they have to abide by the regulations but they have to compete with somebody whose interest is not just profit but is interested in making sure that the american people get decent health care. having said that --

[applause] but having said that, i want everybody to be clear that the public option is just one option. it will be voluntary. nobody is talking about you having to be in the public option. the only thing we are talking about is this being available to you as a choice. we want to expand consumer choice. we think that is a good idea. there are a whole bunch of other aspects to health insurance reform that people have to understand. we want to make sure that insurance companies cannot prevent you from getting health insurance because of a pre- existing condition. that will be bill law, whether you were in the exchange or you are keeping the insurance or have. you should be able to keep it regardless of a pre-existing condition. there should not be a lifetime caps or yearly caps where you bump up against it and suddenly, you have huge out-of-pocket costs that drive you into bankruptcy. we have to make sure that there

are basic consumer protections on that review should be able to keep your health insurance if you get sick or you lose your job or you change jobs. all too often, when you need insurance most, that is when the insurers decide to drop you. we have to make sure that that is against law. that is part of what health insurance reform is all about. . >> i want everybody to understand that in addition to providing health insurance for people who do not have it, even

if you have health insurance, you have got a stake in this debate. 14,000 people are losing their health insurance every day. millions of people all across the country are vulnerable to explosions because of things like pre-existing conditions. -- to exclusions because of things like pre-existing conditions. premiums have gone up three times faster than inflation and faster than incomes. if we go on the pace that we are going on right now, there will be a lot of families that make the decision they cannot afford insurance because the costs are unsustainable. and if you are a deficit hawk, then you should be especially concerned about it. at the pace we are on right now, medicare is going to run out of money in eight years. it will not be totally broken, but it will be in the red because the costs are going up a lot faster than the money that is coming in. when you are talking to seniors

out there, tell the number one, no one is talking about cutting their benefits. and talk to them about the fact that medicare is already a government program carried [laughter] [applause] when people say, keep government out of our health care, make sure they know that medicare is a government program. but also explain the part of what we're going to do is strengthen the program so that it will be there over the long haul. we do not want a situation in which medicare runs short of money because we did not make the changes that are needed early on. i am confident that we can get this done. but i want everyone to remember this has never been easy. when fdr proposed social security all p!ájuáhpá was i guess the groveland of today's internet -- [laughter] all the newspapers and the radios and all of that, he was

accused of being socialist. he was going to bring socialism to america. how dared he? then when lyndon johnson proposed medicare, everyone said it was going to be a takeover of health care. it is going to destroy your relationship with your doctor. the same arguments that are being made now have been made every time we have tried to propose a significant change that ultimately made people more secure, improved their health care, improved our quality of life. we cannot be intimidated by some of these scare tactics. we have to understand that there are a lot of people invested in the status quo. we ought to also understand that people are understandably nervous and worried about any significant changes when comes to something as important as health care because it touches our lives. it is very personal. their moulton -- more vulnerable to misinformation.

that is what'why it is so import because people trust you, your teachers, friends, fellow committee members, they know you. the trust to you. if you are presenting the facts fairly, then we will win this madebate. let's go get them. [applause] thank you. [applause] >> thank you, mr. president. thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedule to talk to all of us, your supporters, about this critical issue. i would like to add for folks interested, either watching as a home or at work, you can sign up to participate or host a health care event right now by entering your zip code. and for folks who are listening on the phone, please go to

barackobama.com to sign up to participate or host an event near you. we're going to take 3, 1 from e- mails, one from the telephone, and one from twitcheltwitter ane will open it up to the volunteers for questions. the first question, cindy? >> good afternoon, mr. president. our first question comes from juliette in colorado's springs, colorado. she writes, i am an organizer volunteer in colorado. this summer, our organization has called 4800 members of the committee and other decorations of support from over 2600 people. the debate is really heat up. what is the most compelling argument we can make for health reform? >> thank you, cindy, if you are listening, i appreciate the question and the great work you

are doing. the first thing you have to explain to folks when we are having a discussion about health care is that the status quo is unsustainable. or another way of putting it, if you like what you have now, unless we make some changes, you will not have exactly what it is that you like. the reason is because health care costs are going up so fast -- as i said, three times faster than wages, much faster than inflation in other of -- every other area of life. it is going to gobble up a higher and higher percentage of your income in terms of premiums and out-of-pocket costs. more and more employers are going to say, we just cannot afford to provide you with health insurance. or if we do, we will push more and more costs on to you. you will lose more and more of your paycheck, even if you do

not know it. it turns out the 1990's wages and incomes of flat land, and part of the reason was because -- wages and in comes a flat line and part of the reason was that part of the wages that would have been raises and increases was gobbled up by health care. if you're on a public program, like medicare, you have something to worry about because we are going to be running out of money. the status quo is unsustainable. you have got to make sure that you explain that to folks. is not as if we just stand still everything is going to be ok. number two, if you do not have health insurance, we are not forcing you to go into a government plan. goveystem similar to what membes

of congress enjoy where you have a menu of private insurance options. weird is going to give you a little bit of help so that you can afford the premiums. that is all we are talking about. one of the options will be a public auction. -- a public plan. nobody is going to force you into that option. it will, however, keep the private insurers, honest because if they are charging a lot more, higher profits, higher overhead, at worst deals in terms of insurance, then the people will say, i might as well take it bandage of the public plan. but it will be the choice of the individual -- take advantage of the public plan. but it will be the choice of the individual. the third thing is, when you are talking to people about this -- most people have insurance, remember that. the people who do not have health insurance, they are already in favor of reform. the most important thing to

describe to those who have insurance is that this will be a set of consumer protections that provide you with more safety and security. you know that you will be provided for if you get sick. because what we're going to do is say to insurance companies, you have got to do certain things, like aetna people even if it got pre-existing -- even if they've got -- like admit people even if they got pre- existing conditions. you cannot drop them or exclude them from care if they get sick. in fact, the house bill actually has a provision that says insurance companies, if they want to participate in the exchange, they can only charge of 15% in profits and administrative costs. the rest of the carrot has to actually go to making people well. double the cost control elements. the point is, all of these forces taking together -- taken

together will help people to know that it will be there when they needed and they can count on it and over time, because of the cost saving measures we are putting in place -- for example, making sure the prevention and wellness is covered -- will actually reduce the cost in the long term. that will be equally important because essentially that will show in our paychecks, in lower premiums. right now, americans are paying $5,000 to $6,000 more per person in healthcare costs than any other advanced nation. not only do these countries have universal care, but they are paying $5,000 to $6,000 less per person. we are not getting a good deal. nobody is talking about a government takeover of health care. we're talking about making sure that people get a good deal for the premiums they are already

paid. i think that argument most of the time will win the day. i was just on the conservative talk show this morning -- or, this afternoon -- and a woman called in and said, i have stood amid -- i'm glad you explained what this public plan is because i thought your whole plan was just the public plan. a lot of people just have misinformation part because, let's face it, health care is complicated. it is subject to a lot of misinformation out there and that is where your efforts are so important. thank you, cindy, wherever you are. >> we have our second question and it comes from the telephone. >> our second question comes from a volunteer from florida. go ahead, connie.

>> good afternoon, mr. president. >> hi, connie. >> good afternoon, i would like to thank you for taking my question. my name is connie and i live in florida. i live in congresswoman debt -- debi what can shields district. [applause] i am a retired health-care administrator. i was a neighborhood team leader during your campaign. and now i am an organizer. my question, sir, are we winning support from members of congress? do you think we are making a difference there? >> the fact is, you already got one of the best members of congress. if you talk to her, you are kind of preaching to the choir. [laughter]

especially since she is sitting here right now but can i just say that, even if you live in a strongly democratic dr#u)ict where there is a strong progressive member of congress who is already in favor of health care reform, convincing people more broadly about the need for reform still makes a difference. because unfortunately, washington is as obsessed with the snap poll. they are obsessed with what is played on talk radio or what is said at a town hall meeting. you could have 20 release sensible, civil town hall meetings, but if there is one that is the screening, you know which one is going to get on television. every person you -- every person you talk to his mind is changed

is going to make a difference. in your congressional district, i think debi would confirm, there are a lot of senior citizens. seniors right now are the most worried of any population group about health reform. they're the ones who are the most nervous and it is understandable. they need more health care than anybody else and they are have good health care under medicare. their general attitude is, i do not want change. i did want to make sure that you are not taking away what i already have. that is why it is so important to emphasize to seniors, connie, that you are talking to that we are not reducing benefits under medicare. we think medicare is a sink or trust. part of what we want to do is strengthen medicare by closing the doughnut hole that is making prescription drugs really costly for those who need prescription

drugs most and by extending the life of the medicare trust fund because over time, we are spending things -- money on things like subsidies to profitable insurance companies. about $17 billion per year is taken out of medicare to pay insurance companies who are already making a bid -- a big profit without any competitive bid it whatsoever because they are running a portion called medicare advantage. if we had them bid for participation, even if you still included them as a potential provider, that alone would save us $17 billion per year. that would extend the life of the medicare trust fund. you have really got to emphasize, i think, to seniors that number one, nobody is talking about messing with your medicare benefits. and number two, reminding seniors that at the same time,

you've got kids or grandkids and they need to make sure that they have the same security that medicaid provides seniors. -- that medicare provides seniors. there are people in their mid 50's right now that do not qualify for medicare, may have lost their to -- lost their jobs that provided health care and it is almost impossible for them to get some because the media had a heart attack, cancer, some other -- maybe they have had heart attacks, cancer, some other pre-existing condition. their attitude is, no, we will take the young, healthy ones and then we never have to pay out and we make more profit. that is part of what we want to change as well. we've got to remind seniors that there are a lot of family members that deserve the same kind of security that they have. nobody is talking about taking the security away. we just want to expand the security to more people.

>> our third question comes from randy, an organizer in phoenix, ariz., who has admitted her question of over twitter. she writes, there are too many lies about health care reform -- the death penalty, you name it. but where are they coming from? >> well, we know where they are coming from. [laughter] i do not think it's any secret. if you just flick channels and then stop on certain ones of them -- [laughter] [applause] you'll see who is propagating this stuff. i said to her in the campaign

that the best offense against lies is the truth. all we can say is to just keep on pushing the truth. the truth is, there is no plan ever been considered under health care reformç in congress that covers illegal immigrants. nobody has proposed that. and yet, a huge percentage believe that is the case. so, anybody listening right now, let's dispel the smith. -- this myth. there are no plans under health reform to revoke the existing prohibition on using federal taxpayer dollars for abortions. nobody is talking about changing the existing provision, the hyde amendment. let's be clear about that, it is just not true. let's be clear about the fact that nobody has proposed anything remotely close of a government -- close to a

government takeover of health care. the most progressive, liberal plans that have come forward and come out of committee, all of them presume that if you have got private health insurance, you can keep your health insurance. nobody is talking about getting between you and your doctor and interfering with that relationship. what we have said is, we do not want government bureaucrats interfering in that relationship. we also do not want insurance company bureaucrats interfering with that relationship. [applause] the death panel ibidea -- the genesis of this, this is interesting interesting out misinformation spread. there was a provision in the house bill that very sensibly said, you know, a lot of people toward the end of their life they have not -- toward the end

of their lives, they have not prepared things like a living will and they do not know their options in terms of hospice, and we should reimburse people if they want that counseling. voluntarily, if they want it, that is something that medicare should reimburse for. it should not just beat well the people that get good counseling and information about how to handle their affairs during a difficult time. so, that voluntary provision that permits reimbursement, which by the way, republicans had supported previously -- this was previously considered a bipartisan concept and eight republican senator introduce a much more aggressive bill on this issue. in the bill passed by republican members of congress, they had a similar provision for terminally ill patients. this used to be just a sensible

thing that everybody could agree to end suddenly it became deaf panels deafdeath -- death panels and scared grandma. it is just irresponsible. i have to say, part of the reason it's bread's is the way reporting is done today, if somebody puts out myth -- misinformation "obama is creating duseath panels" then te way the news comes across is "today, someone accused the obama administration of creating death panels. the white house responded by saying it is untrue. -- that it is not true."

and they never go on to say that it is not true. it is fine to have a debate -- and fourth, he said, she said, except when somebody else is not remotely telling the truth. you should say in your report, and by the way, that is just not true. but it does not happen often enough. that is why it is so important that all of you deliver that message and you have got to be able to back up. all of you are receiving materials where it is not just us saying that. these are third party vella bidders -- about evaders who are out there and can get the facts straight. when you show them the information, most people will end up being persuaded. not everybody, look, there are some people that for partisan reasons just want to see this go down. they see a replay of 1993, we can be a health care bill like we did with bill clinton and we will be able to take over the

house next year. there is some of that. and then there are some people who ideologically, they just do not believe in government getting involved in anything. and that is a respectable position. there is a long american tradition of saying, government, just leave me alone and get off my back. those folks are consistent and they were critical of bush when he got involved in government and they are critical of me in terms of believing that government can do this -- do some good. honest, philosophical debate and they are just not going to agree with it. but the majority of americans understand that we do not want government in all our business, but there are certain is sensible reforms that we can pass so that consumers are protected, so that the market is working the way it should, so that the american people are getting a fair deal. those are the people that we are trying to persuade. if the majority of the people have the facts, then there will be people on our side.

now we can just go to the audience members. we will start with this gentleman right here. >> i'm from north carolina and thank you for turning north carolina blue. [applause] it has been a long time. i have two wonderful children. i have four beautiful grandchildren. i'm working for them and i am working for people who, unlike me, do not have health insurance. it is unconscionable. you have been outrageously good. [laughter] let me be clear. in trying to get a bipartisan bill through this congress. and you got three wonderful republicans willing to stand with you, but america needs this

to happen and you know that. so, we're going to -- where are we going to go from here? >> we do not know yet whether we have god any republican support. we have got three republicans who have been working very diligently, charles grassley, mike bindi, and olympia snowe. they have been working in the senate finance committee with max baucus, the senate finance chairman, a democrat, to see if we can craft a bipartisan bill coming out of the senate finance committee. i give those three republicans a lot of credit because they are under enormous pressure not to engage in any kind of negotiations at all. and in the current political climate, they are showing -- in the current political climate they are showing some significant results. i do not know if in the and they can get there. i hope they can. we're going to just continue to

wait to see if they can get a product done, but at some point in the process there is going to have to be a conclusion that either they can get a bill done or they cannot get a bill done. my commitment to the american people is to get a good product which will include republican ideas, but i have no control over what the other side decides is their political strategy. my obligation to the american people says we're going to get this done one way or another. [applause] you guys have been to my town hall meetings, so you know i always go boy-girl, boy-girl. [laughter] >> i am from virginia, another state that flipped. [applause]

my county is a rural county but when i talk to people as a community organizer it all comes down to money. i may suggest, well, there are long-term benefits, and quality health care, but they come back to me and say, well, what is going to stop people from being in their employer-based health care and just quickly moved over to the government health care? who is going to pay for it? what do i say? >> it is a great question and there are a couple of issues involved. the first is, how are we paying for health care reform in general? one thing that is important to remind people -- you will

notice there has been a talking point from opponents, a trillion dollar health care. the law of repeating that, trillion dollars health care. first, it is important to remind people that when they say trillion dollars, it is over 10 years. it is a -- it is -- we are talking about $100 billion a year, which is still a significant amount of money, but to give you a perspective, the amount of money that we are spending in iraq and afghanistan is -- what is the latest figure? $8 billion to $9 billion per month. so, for about the same cost per year as we have been spending over the last five to six years, we could have funded this health care reform proposal. just to give you a sense of perspective.

number two, about two-thirds of the costs are actually going to be paid for from money that is already in the health care system, that taxpayers are already paying for, but is not a good deal. it is reallocating money that is being wasted right now, taxpayer money that is being wasted right now and using it in a way that actually makes people healthy. that is no. 2. remember i told you about those subsidies that we are providing insurance companies? that is an example. another example is the way we reimburse hospitals right now, we do not incentivize hospitals to get their patients the best treatment the first time out. because if a patient is immediately readmitted, well, we just pay them the same rate as they were the first time. think about if your car needed

repairs and you sent in and it got fixed, you thought, and a week later the same thing breaks down when you went back to the auto shop, you probably want them to give you a discount on fixing it the second time. but we do not do that right now with respect to hospitals. those are the kinds of changes we can make that would pay for about two-thirds of the cost of health reform. that leaves one-third, and we do have to pay for that. i actually think that we're going to get even more savings with prevention and wellness, but unfortunately, we cannot count out. it is not in congressional limbo, "score:." -- "scoreable." it is not provable even though everyone understands that the investment in prevention and

wellness and health i.t. will make a difference. one-third of it will have to pay for and what i have proposed is that we will pay for it by having people over $250,000 per year, have their itemized deductions go to the same rate as everybody else's, 28%. right now, they get more because their marginal tax rates are a bit higher. if we just went back to their deductions that existed under ronald reagan, that radical -- [laughter] then we could pay for all of the health care reform that we are talking about. now, there are other ideas being floated out there both in the house and the senate, but the bottom line is that what we're really talking about is $30 billion to $40 billion per year that we have to come up with. i am absolutely committed, and you can say this to people -- the president is absolutely

committed to making sure that is not founded on the backs of middle-class families. we are trying to help middle- class families and give them additional resources to get health insurance. we're not trying to add to their tax burden. now, there was another question that you asked, though, and that is, how do i know that my employer is not just going to dump me into the public plan? there are provisions in the law that if your employer is already providing you with good health insurance, then you cannot just send your employee over into some sort of public opt ion. it is what is called a fire wall. there are provisions to prevent that shift. there will be small business owners who will immediately qualify for signing up for the health insurance exchange. because right now, they cannot afford to provide health insurance to their employees at all and we want to make sure

that they are getting some help. partly because small businesses, they do not have any purchasing power when it comes to insurance companies. if you have only got five or 10 or 15 employees and you go to an insurance company and say, i want a good insurance policy, they are not going to give you a great deal compared to if xerox shows up with its thousands of employees. when a small business joins this plan they will be able to pool their purchasing power with all of the small businesses and individuals out there who do not currently have health insurance. that will help drive down cost. who is next? this gentleman right here. ç>> i'm from durham, north carolina. i am the co-chair of the obama committee in drum. we have 11,000 members.

all of my members are behind guaranteed choice and reduce costs and health care for all and they believe,  believe, that the only way to do this is to give a isoption -- a public option to people and my question is, if that is the solution that you believe in, then why are we pushing it harder? >> this is a controversy that has been somewhat manufactured this week. let me just be clear, i continue to support a tooption -- to support a public option. i think it is important and i think it is important to provide choices. it is just one component of a

broader plan. let's just use the example of making sure that insurance companies are treating their customers right. one way that we are doing this in this health reform bill is very directly through insurance reforms. we are saying to them, you have to take people with pre-existing conditions. you cannot put caps on lifetime expenses, or yearly expenses that people bump up against and suddenly we have to pull a lot they may not have. we are putting in place a bunch of insurance reformsgo that regulate the behavior of insurance companies. h95tt that, if there is a public plan that is offering a good deal to consumers, then insurance companies have to look over their shoulder and they say, gosh, you know, if the public plan is providing that a

good deal to consumers, then maybe we cannot just charged exorbitant rates and the street are consumers. it gives them a benchmark from which to operate. my point is, this is sort of the gulf and suspenders concept, to keep up -- the sort of the belt and suspenders concept, to keep up your pants. the insurance reforms are the belt. the public plan can be the suspenders. what we're trying to suggest to people is that all of these things are important and if the debate ends up being focused on just one aspect of it, then we are missing the boat if all we are talking about is the public plan. 80% of the american people who already have insurance in the private insurance market, they say to themselves, what is in it for me? their attitude will be, this is not relevant to me. and in fact, they start getting scared thinking, maybe what the

public plan means is that you are going to force me to give up my private insurer and go into a public plan. that is what those who are opposed to reform have been counting on, to try to twist the debate and feed into american's nashville -- american's natural suspicion about government and to use that to cloud the fact that right now, people are not getting a good deal from their insurance companies. i want to make sure that we are focusing on all the elements of reform, what will benefit people without health insurance, what will benefit people with small businesses, will benefit people who do have health insurance, so we can be -- build the largest coalition possible to get this done. go ahead. >> i was a convention delegate. i have a two-part question, what is choice.

the choice that we make to read the foods that we eat and a lifestyle that we choose to engage in, and the second part, your family is very fit. what do you and the first lady and the girls do to encourage physical fitness? and what can we -- not the government, not private corporations -- to encourage activity in the public-school system and young people? >> this is a great question. this is an interesting statistic. if we went back to the obesity rates that existed back in the 1980's, the medicare system over several years could save as much as one trillion dollars. that is how much our obesity rate has made a difference in terms of diabetes, heart failure, and all sorts of preventable diseases. what we want to do is to, first of all, in health careç reform, in the legislation per --

encourage prevention and wellness programs by saying that any health care plan out there has to provide for free checkups, prevention, and wellness care. that is going to be part of your package. that way, nobody has got any excuse to not go and get a checkup. even if we do all of that, and there are a lot of businesses out there that on their roane -- on their own are providing insurance to their employees. safeway is a good example. they have given financial incentives to their employees to make sure they're getting their checkups. it has saved them a lot of money in terms of their premiums. there is a financial incentive for a lot of businesses to get in the business of prevention and wellness. but you're absolutely right, even if we have got legislation, even if companies are encouraging it -- part of what we also have to do is teach our

children early the importance of health. that means that all must -- all of us in our communities, places of worship, school systems encourage nutrition programs, provide young people outdoor activities that give them exercise. michelle and i always talk about the fact that when we were kids during the summer, basically, mom just said, see you after breakfast and you were gone. you might run in, get some lunch, go back out, and you would not be back until dinner. that whole time, all you're doing is moving. now unfortunately, times have changed. sometimes there are safety concerns to prevent kids from doing that. a lot of kids just do not have a playground. little leagues may have diminished.

that means we as adults and the committee may have to provide more and more outlets for young people to get the kind of exercise that they need. when it comes to food, one of the things that we are doing is working with school districts and child nutrition legislation is going to be coming out. we provide an awful lot of school lunches out there and reimburse local school districts for school lunch programs. let's figure out how we can get some fresh fruits and vegetables and mix. sometimes you go into schools and you know what the menu is. it is french fries, tater tots, of dogs, pizza. -- hot dogs, pizza. that's what kids want to eat anyway, so it is not just the school's fault. that may be what they want to read and it turns out the food is a lot cheaper. because of the distributions that we have set up. we have got to change how we think about, for example, getting local farmers connected

to school districts because that would benefit the farmers, delivering fresh produce, but right now they just do not have the distribution mechanisms set up. michelle set up the guard in the white house. one of the things that we're trying to do is, can we get a little farmer's market outside of the white house? i'm not going to have all of you just tromping around -- [laughter] the white -- right outside the white house. and that is a win-win situation. suddenly, it gives d.c. more access to good, fresh food, but it is also an enormous potential revenue maker for four local farmers in the area. all kinds of -- for local farmers in the area. >> we have time for one more question. >> this gentleman get the last question.

>> i am from the city of los ramallah -- lower maryland. there is a large number of young adults who are trying to figure out where they fall into the health reform plan. many of them are too old to be continuing kerridge on their parents' insurance plan, but it may be unemployed and cannot afford good health care. how does your plan account for these young people? >> is a great question. look, first, one of the things we have proposed is to extend the number of years that young people can stay on their parents' insurance plan. to 25 or 26. that then fills the gap between college and getting health care and those first few jobs. i remember my first few jobs and

you are broke and a lot of times they are not giving you any health care. and if they do offer you health çcare, you are opting out of it because you are trying to buy food, which you think is important for your health. [laughter] so, being able to stay on a parent's health care plan a little bit later, until you have got a more stable job, that can help pull in a lot of young people. now, after that, it turns out that young people are actually relatively cheap to ensurinsure. them being part of this pool, part of this exchange where they can directly go and buy health insurance, they will be able to get a premium that is priced comparably to if they work for a big company. it is still going to cost them some money and there are still some young people who would still prefer, even if they can afford it, just got to get

health insurance. and this is where there will be some young people that will be frustrated because we will tell them is, you know what, we do not want to treat you in the emergency room where everybody else has to subsidize you because you get hit by a truck. he will have to buy some minimal coverage, just like ottawa insurance, to protect the and the very least just -- just like auto insurance, to protect against in the very least, but catastrophic things. and then there will be some folks that may fall into a little bit different category. they may be a little bit older. they are quite poor, but even with the subsidies they just cannot afford health insurance. we may have to give a hardship exemptions to folks like that were basically, we say to you, ok, you have the option of buying insurance at, let's say, 10% of your income, but if you are just in such a strapped

situation that you just cannot afford that, then you are exempt. here is my closing message, everybody. the easiest thing to do as a politician is to do nothing. you do not offend anybody. you say all the right things. you do not rock the boat. your poll numbers go up. everybody in washington says, boy, that guy's a great politician. look at his poll numbers. [laughter] and you can get away with doing that for years. but that is not why i came here. and that is not why you worked so hard to win this election. you came here because you knew that america can be a little fairer, a little more just, a

little more efficient. we can provide better health care coverage. we can make sure that we use less for an oral -- for an orafl and produce more scientists and engineers that will be the key to unlocking the 21st century economy. we understood that we are human and government is a human enterprise, so it is in perfect, but we gecan do better than we have been doing during this health care debate is a test to that proposition. there are a bunch of folks in this town who were waiting for this debate to take place because the story line they want to write about is, all of the '90s, idealistic folks, change we can believe in, yes, we can

-- all of their hopes were dashed because this is a tough, cynical town. and we're going to be able to show them that basically, you cannot get anything done in this town. you cannot change things. everything always immediately becomes partisan. government is way too complicated and congress is way too paralyzed, and special interests are way to powerful to bring about the meaningful, big changes that will help mdothe american people. that is the store we have been fighting against this entire time. from the day that we announced this race, we were fighting against that. and they have been trying to write the story again and again and again. we are not going to give up now. [applause] we are not going to give up now. we are going to get this done and show the american people that government can work for them.

thank you, everybody, and god bless you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] ç[crowd chanting "yes, we can! [applause]

[cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] >> as the health care conversation continues, c-span's healthcare hund is a key resource. dedeaux on line and follow the latest tweets, video links and at and also keep up with events like town hall meetings and even

senate debates -- and house and senate debate. the c-span health care of at c- span.org/healthcare. >> democratic, and grossman barney frank confronted health care critics at a town hall meeting wednesday in dartmouth, massachusetts. this is about two and half hours. [applause] >> this meeting tonight will be about the health care bills down in washington d.c.. this will cover the most prominent issues, those who cannot afford health insurance. this begin their subject could have been answered years ago if the wages of the middle and lower class had not been stagnant for so long. over the last 30 years, this country has reverted back to a disparity of income that we have

not seen since the 1920's. this has left many without the funds to afford health insurance. we need to bring back that economic equality that we saw during the 1950's and 1960's. that quality was the result of the new deal created by franklin delano roosevelt. just as social security -- [applause] thank you. just as social security was the main staple of the fdr new deal , health insurance reform is the main staple of president obama's new deal. [applause] [boos] hold on. bring it down. although we have a consensus, we do not have a majority of those who oppose and are pro. this is actually split audience. thank you. thank you very much.

let me finish. this issue of health care reform is not a new idea that the president has come up with. it has been around as long as social security and has received the support of president in both parties over the last 75 years. this bill is about covering those who work hard every day, yet, still struggle to obtain insurance for themselves and most importantly, for their children. right now is also a time we need to look past the smokescreen of fear and the motion used by the few to distract and obstruct real cog into debate. [applause] -- cognitive debate. [applause] [boos] keep it down. using fear as a catalyst to further your message brings nothing to the table of

progress. we need to remember above all the agreements that we have and above all of the party affiliations -- sir, can you please put that sign down. thank you. we need to remember that above all this agreement and above all party affiliations that we hold, we are all united here as americans and we cannot be divided by those who use fear in order to win a debate. [applause] çbut we can be united in the ia of democracy. and the ability to compromise toward the real solution for our country. i asked that we move past those distractions and focus on the facts on the issue and have a thoughtful and meaningful discussion here tonight and moving forward. congressman frank realizes the importance of meeting with his

constituents and agreed to meet here with you tonight and i am sure will answer any and all questions that you may have. and we thank him for taking time out of his schedule to attend this meeting here at dartmouth. it is my pleasure to introduce you, congressman barney frank. [applause] [boos] >> thank you. first, i want to welcome some of the national press to southeastern massachusetts. stick around for a while, go to the whaling museum, go to the great beaches. you are in a town right next to two towns that are right together the most important fishing port in the united states. look at the great work force we have here and i am very pleased that we have been able to get some attention here and i hope

people will hang around. if you want to hit a nice beach or to, you do not even have to go across any bridges. they are nearby and you can enjoy yourself. second, i think political parties play very important role in america and in any democracy. i did note that some out is fashionable to denounce department -- partisanship. it can become excessive. people can let the disagreements that they have get to bidder or overcome areas where there should be agreement. -- get too bitter or overcome areas where there should be agreement. i once did a poll in washington in which people thought members of the other party were the most partisan or the most bipartisan. i was one of the only ones that was picked as the most partisan and the most bipartisan. but i think that is the way that is supposed to be.

the should have elections and they should be rigorous. i am pleased to be here. i do want to explain why i'm here. i know that my colleagues have been having town meetings and because someone has been to, i'm going to call one later. anyone who has been around washington politics will nknow, town meetings have long been a form of self aggrandizement for politicians. they tell you, your your district and have a town meeting and tell everyone how wonderful you are going to be. people may not show up that much town meetings and you get all of this press. i'm finding, frankly, that i get a more representative example by accepting invitations, as i did tonight.

because people have raised the issue, i will have a town meeting before the house of votes on this issue. i will begin with a couple of things that have come up now and then i will draw this open. and i want to apologize, also, until fairly recently, my job in washington has been primarily working on financial legislation. we passed a bill that many of you do not like, i suppose, to restrict executive compensation, to keep excessive bonuses -- [applause] we passed a bill that the "wall street journal" was very angry about. i was very pleased to see a -- an article in the "boston globe" sunday that was very accurate. we're very critical to give people mortgages but we should have been, in fact, trying to

get them affordable rental housing. that has been a major shift in the new administration. we're going to restrict derivatives. we're cordoba to serious controls on leverage and that has been a major focal point. but the health care issue, i am not on any of those committees. obviously, it is one that i went back and i read on it and let me comment on a couple of the issues. first, i have been asked if i plan to participate in a public plan for health care. the answer is, i already have been. i am 69 years old and i have been on medicare for four years. medicare is a government-run health care plan. it is a good one. [applause] it is true that when it was passed in 1965, a number of people called itç socialized medicine and said if the government got into health care it would ruin everything. i do not feel ruined. i do not think most of my fellow medicare recipients to do. a few years ago they passed a bill -- i voted against it

because it was not funded and had some other problems, but they passed a bill to provide prescription drug coverage, but did not allow negotiation with the drug companies and it had what is called a doughnut hole, where if you were old enough and sick enough, at some point you had to pay without any help. this bill now before us will fill that gap. it will not do it in one fell swoop because they have to pay for it. and they have made a deal with the drug companies now to reduce it. the other issue, i have to say, and there is a lot of legitimate debate here -- but i have to tell you that i think the single, most inaccurate argument i have heard in all my years of politics was that this was somehow going to compel death panels. .

>> there has been a threat to have the government intervened with regard to these decisions. it was in 2005 when the congress of which i was a minority member, and the president decided to tell my gosh i broke -- michael shirpvo to carry out his wife's wishes. the american people were very unhappy. i think they have the right to be unhappy.

what the bill says is this, if you want to consult with a doctor about end of life, leave instructions about what to do ended a dr.'s advice about how to do that, the federal government will pay for that if you are in medicare. that is the whole basis for the death panel argument, which i think makes no sense. let me talk about things that i like. i have spent a lot of time -- i have to acknowledge in a practice that some people think is also -- awful. we have earmarked. given the health care system in america and the fact that they do not have money, can we get some money to help them. we provided earmarks for the

help center -- health center. here are the rest of the earmarks. over the years i have earmarked $8 million in health care for this region. i do not like earmarks, but in the absence of decent health care for the children that i represent i am going to continue earmarks. if we get this bill pass in the right way, we will not need to earmark any more. and it is much better to have people have enough income to do this. that is one reason. i mentioned the fishing industry, one of the problems we have had is that anyone that works in the fishing industry knows the absence of health care. people are doing a very dangerous job had not have health care.

we have been trying to patch up health care for the fishermen, but if the bill goes through in the right way, we have read it was done a major step to providing them. -- we will have provided a major step. it is particularly important for this region. it is important for the people in new bedford and elsewhere. i regard it our region here as a potential great beneficiary. now, i should add that people are concerned about things better not concerning here in massachusetts because legislation passed their own things that do not do some of these things. let me just touch on this.

there are differences with the bill. i do not like the idea of linking employment to health care. i do think that is i a depressig of jobs. i do want to expand health care. one of the things that the president proposed was to cut back on hospital compensation. i am against that. for one thing, people think about hospital compensation and they may think about medical specialists. we want them to be well paid. do you know quku gets paid by hospitals? hardworking people who are ending bedpans. some of the hardest working people in this country are doing very difficult jobs and hospitals. i am not for cutting back on their salaries. i am looking for other ways to finance this.

now, i am struck by those who say you did not care about the deficit. i do. [laughter] that is one of the reasons, not the only one, that i voted against the single most wasteful expenditure in america, the iraq war. [applause] i assume by the bailout you mean the george bill that he insisted we vote for. and when you are through yelling, raise your hand and i will talk. i assume by bailout crummy mean the $750 billion george bush asked congress to vote for last year. do you disagree with that fact? you say do not blame on george bush.

[yelling] we will not get anything done. and there is an indicator -- when you say people that things people cannot refuse, they tried to drown it out. by the way, when it comes to bailouts, as people call them, whether it is general motors -- let me talk about aig. i will talk about aig was sent by the bush administration officials that decided to bail them out. it was bush's first decided to bailout general motors and chrysler. -- it was pushed that first decided to bail at general motors and chrysler.

-- it was bush that first decided to bail out at general motors and chrysler. [applause] the request -- i just got a request to probably -- to talk about something other than george bush. it is impossible to understand where we are without looking at the context. what is the like? someone said i was a lawyer. where is the like? -- where is the lie?

someone said i was a liar.' >> why didn't you read the bill? >> i read the tarp bill. i am struck by the fall level of discussion by people who cannot disagree rationally. let me say this, someone asked me to talk about fannie mae and freddie mac. i will for a couple of minutes do you want me to talk about it or do want to just yell? i was a supporter of their efforts to do affordable rental housing. under the bush administration day began to increase -- they began to increase --

[yelling] i would ask the chairman to ignore the disruptions. my own view is this frankly, and i have felt this way all my political career. destruction never helps your costs. it makes it look like you are afraid to have a rational discussion. you drive people away. i am not sheer -- this is the council on aging, not kindergarten. i do not anyone -- i did not

expect anyone to act like a police officer. we are here to break couple of hours. -- we are share for a couple of hours. you ask me about fannie mae and freddie mac. i want to repeat, everything that is now going on in the united states government that people describe as a bailout, aig, banks, general motors, chrysler, was asked for by the bush administration. [laughter] laughter i guess is the only way to do it. iwith regard to fannie mae and freddie mac, i did support them for affordable rental housing. in the early part of 2000, george bush pushed them into doing more purchase of mortgages

for low-income people. in 2003 ihoti did not think thed a problem. and in 2005, -- by the way, during the time for 1995 to 2006 the republicans ran the congress. i was not dictated what happened or did not happen. the republicans did not pass anything until 2005. in 2005 the house republicans passed a bill. george bush did not like the bill the house republicans passed. the senate republicans killed it. nothing happens. i did not have the power to do anything until january 2007. in march of 2007 we passed the bill to regulate fannie mae and freddie mac that the bush administration asked for. the senate did not pass it until 2008. that is a fact. you will moan and groan in response but there will not be

any factual representation. to get back to the bill, i think it is very important that we provide the medical -- financial assistance to people who cannot afford medical care. i agree with our chairman. illegal aliens are excluded from getting any assistance in the bill. [yelling] section 246 cents nothing in this bill shall permit any payment to people who are here illegally. it is right here in this bill. that is in there. [applause] what we're trying to do is to

increase wages in general. i support labor unions. i think they have played a very important role in america. the anti-human effort we have seen have helped to depress wages in america. -- the anti-union effort we have seen has helped to depress wages in america. this bill will help the working people here who are hurting. there is a provision in the bill that says they should do research on what medical treatments are effective, and it says explicitly that says that this research on never be used by the government to dictate any procedure or outcomes. it will be information available for people but it says in the bill. now i will be glad to take

questions. yes? >> [inaudible] >> anybody who has their hands up, i will acknowledge them. anplease go to the microphone oe i acknowledge it. i will acknowledge to most likely by row. this lady here go ahead. the gentleman in the blue will be next. >> president obama wants to cut costs and give us more choice in health care. if he is serious about doing this in serious about doing this, why isn't there tort

reform? [applause] you have more choice of insurance companies if you allow people to buy their insurance anywhere in the united states. if they can go to any state to get their insurance -- r>> that is not tort reform. and >> he wants fair competition and to allow the people to make the decision. let us go where we want to go to get our insurance. [applause] >> the problem in both cases is that the conservatives in congress have long maintained -- [crowd yelling]

the objection to hearing some think you might not like is strong. tort reform has always been a subject for the states in america. your right to sue or not to sue for wrongs committed against you has been a state law matter since the late 18th century when the country was formed. there was a lot of resistance to having the federal government that relies support reform for medical care and presumably for everything else. that is the case for insurance. 60 years ago congress voted to let insurance be a state issue. the question of who gets to offer insurance state-by-state has been a state issue. i do think it should be revisited. in the meantime, at this bill does increase the amount of competition that will be allowed through various private

insurance companies. the issues that you raised are both state issues, and that is why they're not in the federal bill. it was in 1946 when it was passed by conservatives, and the tort reform issue is very deeply held by the states. it has been a state issue. >> good evening. they think you for coming here. i am a registered nurse in the area. -- thank you for coming here. if national health insurance is passed, with medicare, i would like to ask you if you can work on getting all registered nurses in the united states quoted in the feed for treatment, which is the same thing as before service. similarly the wake positions

are. -- the way positions are. -- physicians are. it is my belief, and i have worked on this for years, of all registered nurses that are licensed in their given states should be quoted medicare fee schedules. it would be cost-effective. nurses could then go out and becomes self employed as a group. it should be a career option for nurses, and the united states should consider that to have a rn's treated the same.

>> when you talk about medicaid, as opposed to medicare, it has been a state issue. who gets to practice medicine and what they can practice has been a state issue. one of the issues is the dispute -- i generally have been on the side of the nurses. for example, anesthesiologists verses a nurse anesthetist, the states decide who does what. and i think the practitioner should be given the treatment you mentioned. if you have this question about whether or not midwives and nurses obstetricians that those are decisions that have been made by the state.

i think it provides less expensive medical care as long as it is the choice of the individual. no individual should be compelled to pick an anesthesiologist or a nurse anesthetists or a doctor. i think that should be their choice. where it is consistent with state laws, i am bored doing what you said. i do want to read inhof-- sectin 246, nothing in this subtitle shall allow federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the united states. that is in black and white and the bill. that is the only area of subsidy. there is no subsidy. some people sneak through.

the bill does say very plainly, section 246 on page 36, nothing in the subtitle shall allow federal payments through affordability credit on behalf of individuals who are not likely credited in the united states. >> we're trying to keep it to -- to go on medicare i am for doing what you said. -- >> on medicare i am for doing what you say. >> [inaudible] >> i have found medicare to be a very good system ca. i think has been a very well-run government run program.

>> think you so much -- thank you for taking are questions here tonight, congressman. i have a general point of view that a chart -- that hr32 should be scrapped. contrary to what you mentioned a moment ago, i think the congressional budget office has indicated that this bill was practically bankrupt -- would practically be incorrect the united states government. notwithstanding that, you have read twice now pertaining to illegals and the coverage that they would be denied. but i believe there is a very detailed description of how illegals will be covered under

this legislation. >> what section? >> section 152. page 50 and 51. >> i do not see -- it is not on the page if you said in the final version. >> what was the date of that? >> section 152. prohibiting discrimination in health care. except that otherwise explicitly permitted by this act, all health care covered by this act shall be provided without regard to personal characteristics. that does not -- to implement the requirement -- [inaudible]

you notice it says that explicitly permitted by this act. the language that i read it is that reference. in other words, this said no discrimination based on race, gender, or sexual orientation. what the bill says is except as otherwise explicitly permitted by this act, the language i read excluding people who are serious legally is explicitly permitted by this act. that is why your reading of this is not correct. this provision is modified by that explicit permission for the permission mandate to deny it to people who are here illegally. this generally deals with race

and orientation. this says except as otherwise its typically permitted by this act -- explicitly permitted by this act. [applause] i will keep reading. no, but some do not and some never will, but i want to keep reading. the next session says a whistle- blower protection. that is the next section. it is a little odd to be accused of not having read the bill. [laughter] >> just for the record, and not a member of the mall -- i am not a member of the mob.

i in a union member from local to 51 for 20 years. -- local 251 for 20 years. do you really favor this bill? do you like it? >> i favor most of it. i would like to amend it with regard to the extent that there is a tax based on employment. small businesses are exempt it up to payrolls of half a million. i would like to reduce that. by the way, i will have to differ with the previous questioner. i never disputed what the congressional budget office said. i know this bill will cost money. and i want to raise the money. and so that fishermen can get health care. i do not want to take it the way this bill does by taxing people

who are employed. i would prefer to do at other ways. i do like the parts of the bill that tax those making more than 350,000 per year. i'd like the bill that deals with tax evasion overseas. there are several positions there. -- there were several provisions. i believe we're making a big mistake by becoming the military protector of the whole world. [applause] we could substantially reduce military spending -- i do not think ahthe fact that the northn part of iraq are mad at each other is net no reason to spend additional money. i believe that praxis -- raising

taxes in this way -- i did not understand why it will the european nation allies have to have military budgets one- quarter of hours as a percentage. that would generate enough money. i will say this, if we had not go to the war in iraq, we would have more than enough money to pay for health care. [applause] >> i was wondering, can you pledged to all this here tonight that if a new government single payer system is instituted that you will opt out of your cadillac insurance and into the same one that we will be forced to take? [applause] >> unfortunately there will not be a gambler bret -- government single payer. i would join it. apparently i was not clear when i said -- i am curious, do you

really think that it be as is your argument? i thought your thoughtful people here to have a conversation. and disappointed at the level of response. -- i am disappointed at the level of response. i am trying to respond to your questions. as far as this is concerned, i do say this, i will be honest with you, -- sometimes you are not sure whether -- i feel very confident -- i am not on medicare -- i am on medicare. ii am not going to get in the

lender. which one of you wants to yell first? i had the same as other federal employees. it is blue cross blue shield. i am going to vote for a bill that will have a public option as an option. people will have the option. no one will be forced into the plan. here is a great contradiction i get from people. one is, if you have this public plan is going to that because it will rationed and the government cannot run things. two, it will be so popular that everyone will run into it. the answer is we will have a public option out there. there is no inconsistency. it will have a public option in some people will want to go into it, as some people will not want to go into it. my guess is that is that if you are on medicare, no one will go into it because medicare -- the public option will be for people

who do not have medicare, and it will be much broader in coverage. those of us who have medicare will continue to look for a supplemental plan, rather than a fall plan. that is a matter of logic. yes, sir. [inaudible] that is the one of the things that i like about this bill, people who cannot afford supplemental plan to our working people and their not getting paid sufficient to get a supplemental plan will get a degree of support from the federal government, as long as they're not illegal aliens, to pay for it. i have people who work very hard who cannot afford their health care and this will provide a subsidy to go and get it. >> i have a question. i have a question from someone who could not make it tonight. i want to get in before we can

get to the rest of the questions. this is from john silvia jr. as chairman of the banking committee, if the banks charge 6.5%, why can't banks led all of 2.5% and use the remaining 4% on interest on cds in general savings accounts? >> because we have essentially a free enterprise system, and we do not control prices. i am disappointed that the banks -- what can it be disturbed about me trying to answer the question? the answer is essentially that banks are free to do as they wished. i do believe we are having problems. i will work on the establishment of a consumer financial

protection administration to protect consumers against overcharges and abuses by banks with regard to credit cards and overdraft fees. [applause] >> [inaudible] >> what? the point is we're trying to pass a bill that will provide much better protection. right now if you have a complete about a bank practice -- banks are not making much money -- as much as they used to from loans. the banks have been increasing, the big banks, regional banks have not been a problem, but the big banks have been trying to raise more money ifrom these.

-- from fees. we did pass a bill to restrain them on credit cards. i hope we will establish this consumer products -- consumer financial protection commission that will regulate bank practices to make them fair. we are trying to deal with it that way. and go ahead. >> i'd like to try to bring some stability back into this discussion by trying to remind people that in 17874 four handwritten pages altered by men

wrote the constitution of the united states. we have 1000 page article today that people are very confused about and do not understand what has happened. my concern is that when a constitution was written, the founders and the tradesman dealt with their representatives head to head. today the only people that you deal with, 99% of the time our lobbyists, special interests, unions, and all of that. [applause] we are not represented today, and to prove it, when you listen to washington talk about this health care, even though 85% of the people are satisfied with their health insurance and do not want a change, the politicians in washington saved

we are going to do what we oncw. [applause] an example of tort reform would be attorney john edwards did $160 million of business on 63 malpractice suits and made 50 + million. this is what malpractice insurance is costing doctors can and the first thing you should do is abandon the law groups. thank you. [applause] >> my first disagreement is you

are lumping unions and their as special interests. i disagree with that. [yelling] i should be able to respond. let me go back again. i think denigrated unions were a great mistake. use at all that we talked to are lobbyists, special interests, unions -- if that is prase, i would need to gear your criticisms. you were loved and unions as people who are not valid representatives of hard-working men and women. i found labor unions to be very important. the people who represented the fishermen -- does that mean they do not count?

of 13% of the population is a lot. i do not understand -- is it because you do not like what i am saying that you do not want me to say it? i was answering the question by saying that i disagree. i am proud that i work with unions and working men and women. i think they are representative of people who need help. [applause] when you say that is why spend 99% of my time with, you are extremely wrong. i spent a lot of time here in my congressional district meeting with a wide range of people. i do not generally call meetings. i think this tend not to be useful. -- these tend not to be useful. it is most useful for me to accept invitations from people in my district and go and meet with them on their turf, where

they feel comfortable in there is no effort to turn out the troops on one side or the other. there is nothing wrong with that. i am glad to accept invitations as i have done during this recess, and that was what i was originally doing here. i noticed there was something complaining that i was in scituate. i have not been able to do as much with people all side of my district since i became committee chairmen, but i was in plymouth the other day going to meetings that other people had. your suggestion that i do not listen to average people is dead wrong. i was in bed for the last week. -- i was in bedford last week. the fact that the constitution

was a small number of pages and this bill is bigger is not a valid argument against the bill. the constitution was meant to be dropped bridgette broadcom in general principles. the guys who wrote the constitution for got the bill of rights. they admitted that. i am glad they corrected themselves by passing the bill of rights. the fact is that the constitution is different than of laa law. some of the complaints that we have had is there were not enough specifics. people thought the language was not tough enough for some of the other protections were not tough enough. i spent a lot of time talking to fishermen who do not have health care service. my desire to increase health care is spent in part at that. i have worked into word - and

toured the new bedford health center. i have been through st. luke's. i have been to the unions who represent hospital workers, who represent people who are attempting bedpans -- who are emptying bedpans. people have a right to disagree, but i reject -- what is the matter with you all? i do not know if you get angrier when i answer the question or i do not. >> how are you doing? with all due respect, i see a lot of smart people in this room.

you say you want us to trust you with health care -- >> i did not say that. i never said i wanted you to trust me. i never said that. >> are you in washington? and do you get a vote for the bill? to go probably. -- >> probably. >> there was an article which you voted in 2003 saying that lending practices of fannie mae and freddie mac were fined, but in 2005 he said the same thing and now yours year blaming bush for a deficit. how can we trust you with healthcare? can you answer that question? we pay 35% of our income towards income tax. you are going to bankrupt this country.

if you are making a mistake. -- you are making a mistake. we will pay more taxes because of you. [applause] >> source of all -- first of all, the biggest single waste of money in federal history was the woar in iraq. the more you do not like it, the more you yell. the war in iraq will cost us well over a trillion dollars. i do not understand your mentality. what do plan to accomplish by yelling? we're having a situation where people can ask questions. they ask the question, i answer the question. maybe one of you will get up to the microphone and explain why you think yelling is helpful.

the question was about the deficit. i think the war in iraq was a terrible mistake. i continue to believe that the military's budget is excessive, not just in the rock but going forward -- not just iraq but going forward. that is money you will have to pay. >> are you in the military? >> i will explain this to you. you said you are worried about the deficit. who do you think paid for the work like santa claus? of the deficit was exacerbated by the war. that is the problem in your thinking. you said the deficit. if you have any more comments,

and make them. tell me when you are finished. the question was about the intimate and the deficit. -- about fannie mae and the deficit. so what we have is a continued excess military spending. there are other areas that i want to cut back. i do not want to send a man to mars for $100 million. these of the things that cause the deficit. here are the issues with fannie mae and freddie mac. in 2003 i said i did not think they were in crisis. i did not think there was a crisis in lehman brothers or merrill lynch or any of the others. what happened was yes, i invite you to read mark zandy's

book. the bush administration decided that their way to help low- income people was to increase wages for low-income people. i thought that was a mistake. i thought we should help people by building rental housing for them. we will give out the paper that shows you the quotes. in 2005 i joined an effort to fight the republican mancommitte to help the in may and freddie mac. -- to help fannie mae and freddie mac. the point is that is a fact. i was in the minority from 1995 until 2006. in 2005 i did not like it in the

end because of what they did to rental housing. we were also trying to restrict subprime mortgage lending. we tried to pass a bill to do it. republicans got into a fight. they control the whole congress so how could it be it my fault if no bill passed from 1995 to 2006? in 2007 i became the chairman of the committee. several months after i became chairman of the committee we passed a bill to regulate fannie mae and freddie mac' because it included a special provision for the-income housing. the senate did not pass it until 2008. those are the facts. i did not think it was a it problem until bush increase of prime mortgage lending. what do you think i just said is inaccurate?

let me summarize if t and you cn react. in 2003 i did not think they had a crisis. in 2004 are projected it when bush increased subprime lending. the republicans in the senate defeated the bill, wanted a different bill. the chairman in the house of republicans said that george bush gave him the one single salute and that is why it did not happen. in 2007, when i became the chairman, we passed the bill within six months. what is wrong with what i just said? >> [inaudible] >> what is inaccurate and what i just said? -- in what i just said? go ahead.

>> first of all, the bush administration [inaudible] if there were problems with the subprime lending system -- [inaudible] >> i am going to respond now. [applause] >> [inaudible] >> i will tell you what is my fault. i did in 2007 -- first i filed a bill to register hedge funds. if there was a lot of criticism there was too much regulation. i backed off and i should not have. he did not raise the question of the subprime mortgages. we tried to pass a bill to

regulate subprime mortgages. bush opposed it. he did pass a bill to regulate fannie mae and freddie mac. the republicans in the senate rejected it. a couple of years later when he was still president, i got the bill passed that bush wanted. those are the facts. i only blame the republicans when they were in power. >> [inaudible] >> i want to stick with this. i think it is important to take some of these things to a logical conclusion. the republicans were in power from 1995 to 2006. i was not in charge of legislation. when i began in charge of january 2007 i hope the committee that i chaired pass a bill. the problem was among the republicans.

i will take full responsibility for anything that came to be because the three did when we were in power. -- i will take full responsibility for anything when i was in power were. >> i am appalled by the fact that i have health care in my other country. they give me full health insurance. [inaudible] how do they explain the fact that -- [inaudible]

the doctors are doing something else, doing research, something else. lou is going to take care of the people? there are no doctors. i have to go to another town 75 miles away if i need to see my primary care. i told my daughter went to is in a traffic accident not to go to the hospital. is this health care? [applause] >> first of all, different

societies have different systems. we are never going to be in the united states, given our traditions, it going to have the health care that many other countries have. is the quality of health care in turkey substantially worse than the quality here? >> it is perfectly fine. my father had a heart attack, and he is a person who served his country. he is retired. it is a perfect system. >> we have partially done that in america a with medicare. in fact, if you listen to the critics, and medicare is subject to all of the criticisms that people make of this bill. the medicaid system involves far more government intervention, control, etc., then this bill does. it is true that medicare was part of this.

some of what you complain about we're trying to deal with. the health insurance companies have made some agreements because of this bill going forward. it will not exclude people because of pre-existing conditions. there will be negotiations in this bill and some improvements to private health insurance. i believe in the free enterprise system, but there is an element that is important for the free- market system to work well and that is twice. i have a choice as to what i b uy, but with health care most of us do not have a choice. the major powers has to say no. you cannot say no to health care. that is what the public option will do.

it is a test. people say the public option will read stricter choice. -- will restrict your choice. i think we will save money. [applause] go ahead. >> i want to thank you so much. i want to applaud everyone who did show up. i know all of you folks would rather be home with their loved ones. thank you for showing up. do you feel that the population in this room might be representative of your constituent base? >> i have no way of knowing. >> i did they do not want the health care reform as it is written currently. if your constituents are overwhelmingly opposed to it the way it is now, is there any way

you would go against the obama administration and your own party and rejected? -- and reject it? [applause] >> first, no one has any way of knowing nor is it relevant relic predict whether this group is represented it or not. anso the answer is no one knows. secondly, will i sometimes oppose might constituents? yes. the majority of the people i represented work for the patriot act. in 2001, after the terrible mass murder of so many americans, the patriot act look like it was very popular. i thought it was a mistake. i thought it did not fully respect our traditions so i

voted against it. i think it was unpopular at the time. i think believing that saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction was a mistake. at this point, by the way, i do not know how anyone can have an absolutely firm opinion. there are still important choices to be made. i would like to pay for it by increasing funds elsewhere. that is the answer to your question. >> hello. two years ago i came to you in the congress at the cafeteria and you've reach out because i own due to the home owners protection act.

[inaudible] you went with that. and goldman sachs and all of the banking apparatuses got millions of dollars of u.s. taxpayer money. instead of doing what was necessary for this country, number one, bankruptcy reorganization. [inaudible] [applause] you have to get rid of the worthless debt -- >> what is your question. >> get to your question. that is what we are here for. >> you have to get rid of all of the worst list