a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> tonight, reflections on the revolution in europe. that is from christopher caldwell on c-span's q&a. . . there is not a lot of news to report.

we've continued to solicit input as to what to include in proposals or his mark, that he has indicated to release next week. he has also said that the week after next, i believe on monday of the following week, we will go ahead and mark up legislation in the finance committee, which i believe will at least start with the package of proposals that we have been talking about. of course, everyone will have a chance to propose amendments and additions, and i am sure that there will be a lot of that. >> are you to the point that the six of you any gang of six agree on a basic structure for health care legislation? >> the basic structure the president outlined last night to extend coverage and tried to reform the payment system in medicare, where we try to reform the insurance markets,

that basic structure, i think, is generally agreed to, as the way to proceed. there is a lot of uncertainty about details of that. i do not want to suggest that everyone has signed on to all of the details or onto a final package. that is not the case. senator baucus is going to put this out as his chairman's mark, and there will be a chance for amendments to the extent that they still have concerns. the full committee has not been part of these discussions and they will have a lot of amendments, i am sure. >> does that hurt the senate and the gang of six to be a mother so behind warehouse is when it comes to health care legislation? >> i think the month has been well spent in that we have been working on the details of this legislation. the finance committee has

responsibility to pay for what ever is done, by way of by their revenue for offsets in spending elsewhere. that has been a lot of focus and an important part of what needs to be done. the president talked about not signing a bill if it adds to the deficit and not controlling the future growth in health-care costs down the road. those have been central focuses of our discussions. i hope that that will be reflected in the bill that senator baucus puts out. i am confident that it will be. >> jeff young. >> i take the set all the questions that i had. what is your definition of success here? what would you consider a good piece of legislation, a legislative victory here? what does that look like to you? >> i think success would consist of a major reform in health care

system. and by that, i think it is the elements that the president talked about the other night. i think that we do need to reform the insurance markets so that we do not have companies continuing to deny coverage on pre-existing conditions, continuing to refuse to sell policies to folks who they determine our sick or could get sick, and said that as part of it. the expansion of coverage, we've got a lot of people -- the statistics came out that in my state of the new mexico, we had a second were sought for the number of uninsured, and therefore we need to find a way to provide coverage for that group. this legislation would do that. i think that is very important. and in the payment reforms, the federal if funded programs,

medicare and medicaid, in order to eliminate some of the inefficiencies that exist there. >> of follow-up? >> actually, i did. you have been those meetings and in the room with the democrats and republicans trying to figure all this out. from that vantage point, after the friday meeting what is your gut feeling? >> i think that what we have got is legislation that in many respects is acceptable to all of us. frankly i can support what i believe the chairman is planning to put out by way of a mark. there could be some improvements in that, if the opportunity arises. that is probably true all of our group -- of all of our great. all of us would like to see some

changes to what the chairman proposes. as i have said before, i cannot speak for any of the other members as to whether they would support the final package that senator baucus puts out. i think the real question is, at the end of the marked up in the finance committee, do we have a bill that we are reporting to the floor, that democrats and republicans can support? i hope that that is the case. i do not know if that is the case at this point. >> it seems to me, the gang of six seems like a gang of four. can you actually get a bipartisan bill if they are not on board with the basic framework or certain key elements of the proposal? >> each senator makes up his or

her own mind on legislation. i think that there are some strongly held views like each of the group of six -- by each of the group of six. i would like to see all of the republicans who are participating in our discussions able to support a final package. i do not know if that will be the case or not. we will probably have to wait until the end of that markup and then we will look at what the committee has finally settled on to decide. i do not know that that is going happen but i think that it may well. >> assuming that you do not get the republican support you need, if you are probably the first of the gang of six to say it would support the controversial reconciliation movement to pass the legislation. that is supposed to be elected -- legislation that affects the

deficit. but he said that this would be deficit neutral. if you passed it by reconciliation, what might you include in our reconciliation bill? >> i have not sat down with a parliamentarian to understand what would qualify to be in a reconciliation bill or not. my hope is that we are able to report a bailout of finance committee that does not just -- is not just deficit neutral but in fact does reduce the deficit. if that is the case, then much of that legislation would presumably be qualified to include in a reconciliation bill. >> senator, you are on both the finance and health committees. what are the essential elements? >> somewhat the ones that i described. i think we need to reform the

insurance markets so that we do not have in the future of the kind of -- in the future, the kinds of abuse of policyholders that we currently suffer with your dollars the sum preconditions? >> yes, clearly the president said that he supports legislation that would outlaw the issuing of policies that excludes illnesses that arise because of pre-existing conditions. i think that is a good thing to do. i do not think we should have those kinds of policies sold in this country in the future. i did think the president has made the point repeatedly, and it needs to be made, that if a person has a policy that they like right now, they can keep that. they can renew that. they can add their family members to that. and we have that specified in both the help committee legislation and i believe it

will be in the finance committee bill that we pass as well. during courage is not jeopardized but in the future if they want a new policy -- current coverage is died jeopardized by in the future if they want a new policy, certain requirements would be covered. that is a part of it. it is important that we go ahead and expand coverage to some of those folks, most of those folks who are insured now, in order to reduce the cost shifting that is currently occurring, people who have insurance now paying something over $1,000 a year on the average family policy to cover the medical expenses that are incurred by people without coverage. we need to try to eliminate as much as possible. >> 3 public option? >> not necessarily, but i favor public option. i voted for public option.

i think that the way that the legislation is contemplated, but then the health committee and that house-passed bill, and a bill that we're working on an of finance committee, is that you would expand coverage and implement these reforms. one additional way to try to bring competition to the market is to provide a public option, another seller of health care -- of health insurance that would be set up as a nonprofit. i think that would be a good thing to do. i think it would encourage competition and i think it would help keep down the growth of premiums in the future. but even without that, there are other provisions in here that

also tried to accomplish the same objectives. >> if a public option is not in the finance bill or in need help build, would you support it? -- or in the help bill, which is supported? >> there are a number of reforms in this current package that we ought to get across the finish line. i am not one who says, unless you do this particular thing, i will not take the other things that you are doing that i also support, that to me is not a very constructive position to take. so i think we should get the very best package that we can and i hope that we can include a public option in net. -- in net. we need to see where the votes are as we move afford. >> speaking of the public option, most democrats supported. and there are some mothers who have not really said one way or

the other. -- some others who really have not say it -- said one way of it. is your feeling that among democrats on the committee, there is enough support within yourselves to report out the bill basically as senator baucus proposed whether or not you get the public option? some of your colleagues came not telling us that they had serious problems with what baucus had proposed. what is your read on that? >> i am not familiar with what they were alluding to. specifically that they had problems with what they work -- he was proposing. as i say, this is a multi-step process, and senator baucus has indicated he will put out his mark, and we have a procedure in the committee where everyone gets to file amendments, propose the amendments that they want to call up to change what he has proposed, and then we have the

mark up itself where everyone gets to bring them up and get a vote on them. i cannot predict where we will wind up in the end. i think that there is strong sentiment on the part of the democrats i have talked to on the committee in favor of doing some type of comprehensive health care reform, because the need is there to accomplish it and the growth in health-care costs have sent health care reform is just unsustainable. -- absent health care reform is just unsustainable. the president made that case strongly last wednesday night. >> do you think the health care bill with all of the other elements that you described, all of things that you have talked about here, if it does not have a public option in and, cannot pass the senate? -- if it does not have a public option in it, can it passed the senate?

>> i do not know. this is a multi-stage process. the first stage is to get a bill out. senator baucus is committed to do that next week. the second stage is to do the markup of that legislation. the third stage is going to be for senator reid, as the majority leader, to decide what to -- what portions of the finance bill -- if we are able to report a bill out of finance, what portions of that to bring to the senate floor, what portions of the senate help committee to bring to the senate floor, merging those two just as the speaker is going to have to do that with the three committees that have acted in the house. that is how we will get a bill on the senate floor for consideration. >> senator, as you know, republicans have been clamoring for tort reform, limiting metal coil malpractice awards. president obama seemed to throw

that out in his speech. your colleague from new mexico says that tort reform should be part of the discussion. what is your view any gang of six? is that going to be part of the ongoing debate? >> it is very much a part of the ongoing debate did the president talked about it and what he is intending had the secretary of health and human services proceed with in terms of programs around the country. there are proposals that are clearly going to be brought up in our finance committee deliberations to deal with that problem of tort reform, and getting away from so much defensive medicine, which the president also talked about. i think that it is an issue, a valid issue to be discussed, and we will have to see where the

votes are when we start having votes in the committee. >> could you support that bill? >> i could support some provisions related to toward reform. -- tort reform. others, i would not. i would have to see the specifics in order to make a judgment. >> i have been told that in the rooms in the meetings with the gang of six, it is pretty clear that you are the strong supporter of a public option. it seems that way. you voted for the bill and he hekp committee to have that have said -- had that in there. but you have said that it is not the be all in all -- the be all, and all -- end all.

you're probably the strongest voice in favor of those things. do you feel as though you have a special possibility to represent the work that you and your colleagues did any help committee -- in the health committee, being a more liberal point of view? >> i do not feel that i have a particular responsibility. i am representing my own point of view, which i represented when we did the bill in the help committee as well. i think that if we're going have a requirement on people, which of course we're talking about doing, a requirement for people obtaining coverage if they can afford it, then we need to help them to afford it. particularly low-income, moderate-income individuals. so that has been a focus of our discussions. i think that we're doing reasonably well in that regard. there are significant differences between what the

help committee has proposed and that record, but the house as proposed in that regard, and what we are likely to end up with the -- with in the finance committee. that effort is constrained by the need to pay for what ever we do. that is the big difference between the finance committee and what else has gone forward. >> senator, earlier you talked about the build not only been deficit neutral but also helping to reduce the deficit. we were back covering the town hall meetings and that seemed to be one of the biggest scoffing points. how do you save that money? where are you going to save them money? dollars the president, i think, made the point very well in his speech that when you look ahead and say what is going happen to the federal deficit budgets and the future, the biggest growth

item in the budget deficits is health care spending, and in particular in medicare, somewhat in medicaid as well. that is driven by the increase in the growth in health-care costs throughout the society. we're trying to put into place provisions that will rein in the growth in health-care costs. i think the president's example was if you reduce the growth in health-care costs as much as 0.1%, if you would save $4 trillion. i don't know what period of time he was talking about, but if you go out far enough, there is probably some -- yes. i am not sure about the accuracy of all a bed, but i do think -- of all of it, but i do think that if everyone is using the phrase bending the cost curve. if you reduce the growth in

health-care costs even a modest amount, you save enormous amounts and the federal budget. >> where will you see most of the reductions? just as an example? >> a lot of growth in the federal budget is a result of odor utilization of the system. -- over utilization of the system. when you look at that and see to it -- think about how to discourage that, one of the ways is a way the president talked about. companies selling health care policies that are so expensive that there is no deductible and no copiague, -- copay, there's no incentive to keep people from camping in their doctor's office. what we're talking about and the president mentioned the other night was putting a tax on these

high in insurance policies so as to discourage companies from issuing those, have them pay an excise tax where a family policy would be over $22,000 in premiums each year, or something. the average in new mexico is $11,500 each year. we're talking about of rarefy small group of policies, but it does talk about -- according to experts, help was reduce the over utilization of the system. dollars senator bingaman, are you satisfied at the level of political and just lets -- legislative support that you're gone from president obama and majority leader read? >> i think the president has made this his top priority. he had been very up-front about that. he has been in regular communication with us.

when i was working on the bill we reported out of the help committee, he was in regular communication. he had been in regular communication with us in the lead up to the markup in the finance committee. and of course, his chief of staff, rahm emanuel, and others on his staff, the secretary of health and human services, they have all been very hands on trying to be helpful. and of course senator reid, his position is that he wants us to move ahead so that he can then take on this job of merging the two bills and bringing something to the floor. he is strongly in favor of accomplishing health care reform. >> what about cooperatives? >> i saw that her -- i saw that. senator conrad of north dakota has put that forward as an alternative to a strict public option.

another way to bring competition into the health insurance marketplace. i think that depending on how it is implemented, it could be quite effective in bringing competition. as i say, my preference would be to do that type of public adopt rigid public option that we adopted in the help committee. but if we cannot get the votes to do that, at this idea of co- ops is certainly something to explore. it then serve the same purpose to a large extent. >> one more question. dollars over the course of these months when you have been having these meetings with the gang of six, you have been a quiet one. senator baucus is chairman and he talks to the chairman -- to the press. senator grassley and others are much more vocal about what he sees as supports and problems.

they have been much more in the next politically. what is your thinking behind that is? i wonder if you could talk about that? >> i thought that i could be most effective in the discussions that we are having among our group if i am not doing a lot of talking outside. if i do not get into the business of trying to debate the issues outside of our group, and that is not just an approach i have taken with regard to this particular effort. i am generally not having as many press conferences as some in the congress. i am more comfortable with that. i think that we can -- i hope that most of the people who vote for me in new mexico are confident that i am working

away, trying to get the right thing done. that is where i hope it will come out. dollars senator, i was going to switch gears a little bit. you're obviously still chairman of the other committee. it seems to been lost in the fur -- if you're. what can we expect in the next year? you have an energy bill passed out of the committee. they may be trying to legislate i climate trade bill that may or may not come up. what is the forecast? to the democrats have another stomach for a fight on the cap- and-trade issue? >> we do not know what is going happen on cap-and-trade. the committee that i chair, the energy and national resources committee, as reported a bill that deals with the energy issues more directly. it does not try to do a cap-and- trade, and that is in the jurisdiction of the environmental committee primarily. but i hope that we can get the

bill that we reported out of our committee out and be considered by the full senate. i hope we can do something on the issue of cap-and-trade. that is still in the work in progress category. dollars next year? >> i do not know how quickly. my impression at the end of this month, we're going to release a proposal and tried to mark something up in october. >> back to health care, senator bingaman. illegal immigrants, you have a border state, large immigrant population. how does the senate deal with illegal immigrants with health care legislation? >> frankly, we have about 4% of our population in new mexico that are determined or estimated to be undocumented right now. they do not have access to health care except to the extent that they show up in emergency

situations and ask for health care. that would continue to be the case. they would not have access to health care, and to the extent that we set up the state exchanges that the president is talking about and all of us have talked about, and provide some type of tax benefit to people so that they can purchase health care through those exchanges, those tax benefits would not be available to undocumented immigrants. i think it is as clear as you can make it in the legislation, as far as i'm concerned. it is both and help committee legislation and in the legislation that we are likely to report in lease finance committee. >> senator jeff bingaman, a member of the gang of six, thank you for being with us. we will be back with reporters. we're back with michael coleman of the "albuquerque journal" and jeff young of "the hill."

you been attending town hall meetings and in mexico. what was the senator's reception? >> it was a mixed reception. he generally does not do town halls and doris pressure for him to do them this time very people clamored and so he did three or four of them. tempore running pretty high. mexico is as rigid new mexico was a swing state. many people were new mexico is a swing state. people weren't happy with what he's doing. when he said that he was ready to abandon the public option, people in the democrat side hit the roof. he was getting it from both sides. >> jeff young, did you learn anything from the senator today? >> the most interesting thing thematically overall is the way he talked about what the issues are and what needs to be done, and the indications about the things that he believes in that he is willing to compromise