[captioning made possible by kcet public televisi] good evening fromos angeles, i'm tavis sley. a bipartisan group of six u.s. senors has been trying for weeks noto fashion a health care reform comomise that can attract supporters fr both paies. but despite their efforts, tir appears to be no republican supporat this moment. first up tonight, a conveation with one othe key players in the alth care date, new

mexicoemocrat jeff bingaman, a member of e senate's "gang of 6." also tonht oscar-winning actor forest wtaker stops by. he serves as the executive producer of aewocumentary o the rebirth of new jersey called "brick city." the project runs all of thi week on the sundance channelg. we're glad you've joined us. thlatest on the hlth care debate andorest whitar coming up ght now. >> there are so many things that wal-mart is looki forward to doing, like helping people live better but mostly we're looking forward to helpi bui strger communities and retionships. because of your helthe best is yet to come. >> nationwide surance proudly supports tavis smiley. tavis a nationwide iurance, working to improve fancial literacy and the economic empowermt that comes with it. >> nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs stationrom viewers like you.

thank you. [captioninmade possible by kcet public television] tavis: senator jeff bingaman of new mexico hds a unique seat in this heah care reform debate. as a member of both e senate finance smith and the hlth, education and labor commite. if all goe according to plan, the enate finance committee could begin voti on a health care bill this week. senator bingaman joi us tonight from capitolill. senator, nice to havyou on the progra sir. >> nice to be with y, tavis. tavis: how rlistic is that that we might start votingn that this ek? gh i thi we're going to start voting on amendments tomorrow. on tuesday we will be ting to complete all of the proposed amendments somewhere this week and finally report a bilby the ends othe week. i think that's senator baucus' hope.

>> last i read, there arebout 564 of these amendments. how do you weed rough allf that and get to a vote by t end of the week? th's like five daysrom now. >>ell, itbviously is gng to take a lot of difcult work. i hope that many of those amendments will acceptable to the chairman, and i hope oers may -- the people proposing the others may decide to back away from tse. therare clearly some issues that we're going to have to have debate and votes on, and that's it should be. >> tavis: you mentioned max baucus a moment a, the chairman here. if youere talking to constituents in new xico and trying to explain to themhat baucus' bilis, what wouldou say? he me understand it. >> well, i would say that i trieto accomplishhe major objectives that psident obama has been talking about and many of us have been talking about, and that i it tries to reform the inrance markets, and that

is so that when compaes are selling insurane policies they can't -- they wld be prohibited from denying you coverage forre-existing coitions, that sort of thing. it alsories toeform the payment sysm in medicare and medicaid so that we n save some additnal money ithose pgrams, money that's crently beg lost. it also expands coverage to about 3million americans w currently don't haveoverage, anit does so in a way tha is buet-neutral and ruces the budget deficit over 10 years and also ruces the growth in health care costsver the next couple of decades. >> y said a moment ago that it tries to do mu of what th resident has asked for, and you're right. a l of what the president talked about is this bill. there are some thing left out t, namely and the thing most talked about, of course the public option. talk to me about your position

on that and how this thing gets ssed without a public option >> well, as the president described in h speech to the joint session of congress a week or sogo, the public option is onof the ways that pple would ve to obtain health care surance. i voted for aublic option in the bill we repord out of t healthnd education comttee. i suprt a publi option. this bill ds not have that. is bill has instead a proposal to establish co-ops a to assi oanizations in establishing cops thatould sell healtcare insurance in mpetition with priva companie now, i think a public option wod be better, but you could get touch the sameesult through the co-op effort, if th's what winds up being adopted by the congrs. i know there's also a thought on the part of some. i think senator snowe has talked

about having a backup for a public option in the sense of if, by a certain date, health care coverage has n eanded and pple have not been able to tain affordable coverage, then there uld be a public entity established that would go ahead and sell insurance ia way that wod make it affordable. tavis: there a some that -- notwithstanding the poinyou made a moment ago, there are some w do not believehat co-opsre -- my phrase he -- a good stand-in, a good placement, an option for the public option as it's been discusd. butell me that you believe that wt's going to ultimately pass is going to have some means in it for everyday peopleo have an optio through some means that allows for competition,air competition, wi the industry. >> well, i think we're committ to tryin to get a bill through the congress thatontains that increased competion in it and

that also contains a structure that will -- to e extent e people areequired to obtain insurancand people woulde reired to obtain insurance if ey could afford to, it helps them afford it. it helps provide some government assistance to people who have incomes up to 300% of poverty and inome cases 400% of povertto defrayome of the cost othe insurance that people would obtain. >> sincehis bill, the baucus bill we're talking about now -- unss you know something i don't knowwhich is very, very possible -- to my mind,hough, my ears, at least, i have not heard any republin support for this. so is this going to go dn as a strictly parsan bill, shoul it pass the sena? >> well, i he thait does not become just a strictly partisan bill. senator baucus has gone the extra several miles to work with three republica -- senator

snowe fromaine, senator grassley from iow senator ensly from wyoming. i think that senator sno is very commied to trying to see heal care reform enacted, and i hope that in the final analysis she will suppt the bill. i think senator grassley and senator endslyave stated more substantial objctions to what s been proposed. i don't know where they'll finally come out. >> is it worth getng pasd, to yourind, withoutipartisan support? >> oh, i think tha the reform proposals thate're talking about here are very importt to try to get enacted. i would prefer to see it done on a bipartisan basis. if that's not possible, i thi clearly we need to s if the voteare there on the democratic side to enact this gislation or some major par of it. >>hat raises serious questis, given all that we've seenake place in these crazy town hls over the summer. the sues y raise now about getting democraticupport, is that a forege conclusion?

>> no, i would say nothing is a foregone conclusion inhis press. i dthink that most democra are trying toork with the president to see if legislati can be enacted that aomplishes the jor goals that he's set out. now, the details of thi bill or ny bill people ve not signed on to yet, people have not had to commit tmselves toet, so it's very much a wor in ogress. >> you realistically think as people keep talking aut that ere can be a bill othe esident's desk on this issue for him to sig before this year ends? >> well, iertainly hope there is a bill on the president's desk for him to sign, and as i say, i hope it contains the mar reform elements that he's been talkingbout andhat many us think aery importa. so time wil tell here. i think this weewill be important, but this effort in the finance commite to get a bill thawe can bring tohe

floor hopefully in a biptisan way is just one step i a multi-steprocess and we'll s where it all comes out. >> t other quick things -- given that democrats controlhe white hoe, of course, the house and the senate, and given that docrats made this a central issue during the presidentialampaign, if democrs, with all that control, cnot deliver meaninul health care reform to the country, what ought to happen to them in the midterm election what will happen come midterm elecons, do you think? >> well, what i would like t see happen is we get a few mor democrats elted. if democrats are not able to enact healthare refm, it's not becausee've got too many hereit's because we don't he quite enough. in the senate you need 60 ves in oer to get overhe reshold. we hope that massachusetts h acted to find a replacement for senator kendy, whose ls was

a terrific loss fors here in the senate. but hope we are back to having0 senators who will vote to go ahe with this legislation, but time willell on thaas well. tavis: d finally, senor bingaman, a great place tond here, i think. what did you make of t -- i can't call it the trifecta, since you did fivehows yesterday what do u make of the president's oueach on these ve programs yesterday, beyondheedia buzz? did he accomplish anything? well, i think he did ithink that people who watched those shows came away with a bter understanding of what 's trying to accomish and with an appreciation for the seriousness with which the presint is approaching the issue. i ink he has demonstrated time and agai that this is hisop priority. and i know tse of us who are working here in e congress to t to the same pla the president was to get to are

peuaded that it'sis top priority as well. >> demrat in new mexico. senator bgaman. senator, appreciate the time talk to you. >>hank you. nice tking to you. >> up next,scar-winningctor forest whitaker. st with us. tavis: we're pleased to have forest whitaker on thi program. the oscar-winner sves as executive produr of "ick city the five-night sies is on the sundance chann and focuses on the blig a newark, new jersey. here now, some scenes from "brick city." >> july, eighturders august, 10 murders. can stop this now! >> this september, a five-night special event- >> don't put you lives at ris just to hav friends. it's not worth i >> sundanc chann presents a story of real life, where change mes hard. the toh work, the sacrifice is

about to begin. >> "brick city" pmieres septemr 21 at 100, only o sundance channel. >> of all the places that you could have profiled in a documentary series, wh newark, new jersey >> wl, i was approacheabout the piece. they were ooting some footage d they were thinking about making this documentary more pleasant athe executive prucer and a filmmaker. looked at it and realiz that the sty there is abou cities all across this country, cluding my own in los angeles. and it was highlighting somne, you know, like cy booker, who isort of these people rising up across the countrwho are trying tchange things. and i said, ok, i'm going to be involvedith that. i'm going to see iwe can renew the citi inside it. tavis: i saw some comments by cory booker. he's a friend of mine. and he sa -- i'm paraphring.

he likedhe series, but he thought it focused a bit too much on crime. now, that's corey's point of view. it's hard to tk about newark without talking abt the crime in nark. as a filmmaker, tell meow you tried balance that partilar issue. it didn't overtakehe whole project. >> think that we're talking about how to g rid of some of the chlenges that the cit fes. one the main challenges was crim and what happensthough, when you go inside that crime, you start to see the peoplend meet the grass-roots people working on t problems. yotry to get inside of them. to me thiss about hope and it shows the hercs within the individuals that a living inside the city. so for me it's in some ways a celebrion, while trying to r us of aroblem to have a good life. >> so you get inside crime and you discover somstories. there are a numberf stories within t film. which one of the storylines with regard to individuals impacted ou? >> there's so many. i think it's really interesng

to watch jada and crete's relationship, cause she's a blood, he's a cp and the become a couple. they have a child, you know. they have a chd. and it talks about conciliation, and then she's comingrom this environment where she's sti kind of entangled wi the prison system and the court syem, but she contues to rise. and she ultimaty starts this organization for nine wen to art to help them heal the community, and to me that's a very powerful statent. >> h much of what hds young ople back has to d with being trapped, do you think, by cri in cities all across the country? >> i think a great deal of it. i thk when cory tries to address we were talking about this crime ement. it eliminate a fear, which allows you to have little bit ofreedom to start to think about your o life and what you cado with i unow, when denfranchised

people are -- when kids are feeling likehey have no optn and thenly option to actuay make money is throughrime, you know, then we have to show that there's other ways, you know, so it's hideo inside some of the communies in the country, because it oers in some ways oppounity. tavis: yes >>nd in the oer ways dth and the destruction of a life. tav: there's som folk, n doubt so watching this now, who have nev boughthis argument andever will. the are a lot of policians who ve been elected to office the state and stayed in office because thecome down on one side of this questn, which is therime side. what did you take away, having done thidocumentary, about e connectio the intersection, between crime and poverty? it's easy for politians to say toh on crime. nobody wants tacknowledge the connection betweenrime and poverty. having done this now, what did you see about that? >> wel you recognizehat when they mplement these programs and ee up the neighbrhoods from some of the crime, the

busisses, like vizon, blue cross, ctinental airways, a these people start to come into the communities becau the counities start to become sar, which in turn creates more jobs and more opportunities, which at thsame time raises e values of e people homes that are in those communities. so it' just a blossoming effect after you start to aress that iue. tavis: you got a cnce to see cory booker. do you want to say something >> no. but there is a connection. tavis: that was a bit of a commentary as much as itas a qution. but i digrs on that point. you got a chance to see cory booker up close. he'seen profiled in aot of places as an up and comer, young guy, yale law, rhodes scholar, brilliantuy. i'm not re that i understand all the reasons w coryanted to be mayor of newk. byetting a chance to wat this guy up close, what do you take away -- whawas your

takeaway from watching h specifical, a young, afrin-american male, mayor, trying tdeal with this cme problem in an overwhelmingly black city? >> well, what'so powerful abt him is his moral center about wt he's trying to accomplish. he's got a vision r the city. but he has aision and he's able to ipire people t believe the vision and empower people. people on the seets, everyone that he omes in contact with to belie that their voice mea something. so i was really -- i was o impressed th him because think he is a model of what a lot of us -- the mtels that a lot of u have to try to take up, nd he's wilng to spend his lifend his time. you'll see in e documentary where he's gting out of cars and, you know, he's talking to china, trying to bng business to the port and the next minutehe's getting out of the car saying, "what a you doing out? it's 1:00 in theorning." the nextime he's playing basketball in the prects to talking to se people about brinng businesses in.

he willing to roll up his slves and say i can change m environment, ian make things happen, i can mae this universe happen the way iant it to. so i couldn' be more impressed wi him as an individual. >> cory is a person of faith, i'm a person of fath and i know you are as well. and you were talking about the bible verse th says where there is nvision, that people perish. somebody got to have a vision. the question is whether or not in newark vision is enough. put another w -- what are the resources that he to be availae to really fight cme the motto that theytarted to use was to look at the neighborhoods over t last threyears or so that had the largest spaces for crime, to take individuals from th academy and put them there, put people that knew them there i those environment to try to -- in the past a t of our neighborhoods that are policedtor keep peoe out in this cas we're putting pele into the neighborhoods to

t to make se the citizens can live their lives. they put camer around, so we can capturehosehings. i think that his collaborative relationship with gary marthy, the heaof theolice there, is a gat model, rlly. tavis: there a lot that's been written about this notion of commuty-based policing, t your point nowhat police have to have relationsps with the communities ey protect and rve. here in l.a.where you and i live, we've had this debate f years. and you recall it manyears ago, when tom bradley was mayor of this ci, we had this debe about whether or n cops, who ork in l.a.,ught to in fact liven l.a. and in cities acss the country, they've experented wi this, and the logic is that if policemenolice commuties at they live a work in, there's a different onnection. >> yes. tavis: bause this is their communitas well, as opposed to

policing here and driving a hour and a half away to another counity where you live, you're not a stakeholder in this particularommunity. i sayll that to ask whatour nse was of the relationship between ose who do the work policing newark withhese communities that you were filming in, the peopl >> i mean, i saw aind of coalescing of the commuties. ory lives there in the neighborhood. gary moved into newark. he's bought a home tre and he lives there >> the police chief. >> right, the police chief. e of the elements we have to lo at, too, is the grass-roots element,hich is thetreet warriors, you know, and the fathers who have lost their son and children. and those people are interfacing with those policofficers because theyre inside of the counity, and they're trying to offer the help that they can help, and ey're always onhe scene. it's an effort tt needs to come from each indidual as well that's the onl way that communities can reay move forward is for the iividuals

insidef it to be and feel empowered that their voice c be heard and that theycan change what's gog on there, and that's what's ocrring by the police officers ing in the commity, by everyone living in the community, by the grass-ots groups who are trying tchange this. it all le continues,ike i sa to blossom out. >>, we of cour, in our community and acoss the untry, we le forest whitaker. bueven when forest wtaker shows up with his crew, eve if he is fores whitaker,ho is beloved by u when you show up with a camera crew,hat happens to theeople that you're filming? i ess i'm getting a whether or not you canet what is authention film. can you get thtruth? cameras ve a way of changin people when they sw up. talk to mebout what you think you got in this series whe your cameras showed up. >> he will wit i mean, mark elev and mark benjamin -- mark levin was the directorf the piece. i spent a lon period of time

getting to know the ople in the counity. tavi before you started filming. >> yeah, coming in and shootin an shooting and shoing to gain trust, to let the know at this is just abo their voices bei heard. i came in just to et people and to say hind talk to people, to let them know also th i was truly involved in this andehind what was going . and there was comfort level that started to happen, because shoot, the people realizedhat this was their opportunity to say wt they need to say, younow. and whate were trying to do anwhat i was alwaysalking to markbout and hoping to do was to show sort of t heroics, again, in the everay individu to recognize that the heroism that gs on on a daily basis just by sometimes getting up and going oside your dr and walking down thetreet to a job that you psibly don't love to take ce of kids i a school system that you don't like, you know what i mean?

tavis: i'm gd that sundance is showing this for fiv consecute nights and it's good of them to do that. but i have som sense what the ndance demographic , and i'm raising this only because sundance clely ain'to b.e.t., we know wht we're talking about re. d i'm wondering whether or not -- i think the answer is probablyes, but i want your take on this. is this the right audnce? is thithe right audience to see this? ultimately we nt to get traction on this iss, and we needo get traction wh the right people. tell mwhat people are going to t when they get a chance to see this. >> well, i think it's definely going t cause people to think and reize that there are solutis to problems that are facing t country, recognizing that we can applit in other cities. hopefully other mayorsother police chiefs, oth people will see it. i do want -- i do believe tha thcommunity itself has to see thproject, too, beuse that's a large element inside of the correcti, you know what i mean? but if the city hall and the

mayor are theirst touch that the citizens have after their house, the family, the neighborhoodcity hall, you know, the yor. so i mayors across the country start to take notice, you wld be used as mel. then inside th model they'll start to contact t people as well from the grass roots and hopefully mething can happen from there. think it's an extremely positive thing. i'd like it to brah out for people to see . maybe on the net that will happen. they still might not get all the deographics, but -- tavis: y'll get them. foresthitaker did a lost great work and he's done it again o this project. e piece is called "brick city." five nights now showi on the sundance channel forest, ways good to have you on the program. >> thanks, man. tavis: thas for your wor on the project. tch me on the weekends on public radio international. you can go tobs.org and i'll see you next time pbs. good night from l.a.,hanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on todas sw, visit tavis smiley

at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next te for a conversation with herbal per on a musil collaboration. there's so many things that wal-mart is lookinforward to doing, like helpingeople live better, but mostlye're lking forwd to helping build stronger comnities and relationships. because of your he, the best is yet to come. >> nationwide insuranc proudly supports tis smiley. tavis and natiwide insurance. working to impro financial literacy and the ecomic empowerment that comes wh it. ♪ nationwide is on your sid ♪ >> and by contribuions to your pbs statiofrom viewers like thank you. captioned the national caponing institute --www.ncicap.org--