[captioning made possible by kcet public television] >> good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. a bipartisan group of six u.s. senators has been trying for weeks now to fashion a health care reform compromise that can attract supporters from both parties. but despite their efforts, their appears to be no republican support at this moment. first up tonight, a conversation with one of the key players in the health care debate, new mexico democrat jeff bingaman, a member of the senate's "gang of 6." also tonight oscar-winning actor

forest whitaker stops by. he serves as the executive producer of a new documentary on the rebirth of new jersey called "brick city." the project runs all of this week on the sundance channeling. we're glad you've joined us. the latest on the health care debate and forest whitaker coming up right now. >> there are so many things that wal-mart is looking forward to doing, like helping people live better, but mostly we're looking forward to helping build stronger communities and relationships. because of your help the best is yet to come. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance, working to improve financial literacy and the economic empowerment that comes with it. >> nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

[captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: senator jeff bingaman of new mexico holds a unique seat in this health care reform debate. as a member of both the senate finance smith and the health, education and labor committee. if all goes according to plan, the senate finance committee could begin voting on a health care bill this week. senator bingaman joins us tonight from capitol hill. senator, nice to have you on the program, sir. >> nice to be with you, tavis. tavis: how realistic is that that we might start voting on that this week? gh i think we're going to start voting on amendments tomorrow. on tuesday we will be trying to complete all of the proposed amendments somewhere this week and finally report a bill by the ends of the week. i think that's senator baucus' hope. >> last i read, there are about 564 of these amendments. how do you weed through all of that and get to a vote by the

end of the week? that's like five days from now. >> well, it obviously is going to take a lot of difficult work. i hope that many of those amendments will be acceptable to the chairman, and i hope others may -- the people proposing the others may decide to back away from those. there are clearly some issues that we're going to have to have debate and votes on, and that's as it should be. >> tavis: you mentioned max baucus a moment ago, the chairman here. if you were talking to constituents in new mexico and trying to explain to them what baucus' bill is, what would you say? help me understand it. >> well, i would say that it tries to accomplish the major objectives that president obama has been talking about and many of us have been talking about, and that is it tries to reform the insurance markets, and that is so that when companies are selling insurance policies they can't -- they would be

prohibited from denying you coverage for pre-existing conditions, that sort of thing. it also tries to reform the payment system in medicare and medicaid so that we can save some additional money in those programs, money that's currently being lost. it also expands coverage to about 30 million americans who currently don't have coverage, and it does so in a way that is budget-neutral and reduces the budget deficit over 10 years and also reduces the growth in health care costs over the next couple of decades. >> you said a moment ago that it tries to do much of what the president has asked for, and you're right. a lot of what the president talked about is in this bill. there are some things left out of it, 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 passed without a public option. >> well, as the president

described in his speech to the joint session of congress a week or so ago, the public option is one of the ways that people would have to obtain health care insurance. i voted for a public option in the bill we reported out of the health and education committee. i support a public option. this bill does not have that. this bill has instead a proposal to establish co-ops and to assist organizations in establishing co-ops that would sell health care insurance in competition with private companies. now, i think a public option would be better, but you could get to much the same result through the co-op effort, if that's what winds up being adopted by the congress. 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 not expanded and people have not been able to obtain affordable coverage, then there would be a public entity established that would go ahead and sell insurance in a way that would make it affordable. tavis: there are some that -- notwithstanding the point you made a moment ago, there are some who do not believe that co-ops are -- my phrase here -- a good stand-in, a good replacement, an option for the public option as it's been discussed. but tell me that you believe that what's going to ultimately pass is going to have some means in it for everyday people to have an option through some means that allows for competition, fair competition, with the industry. >> well, i think we're committed to trying to get a bill through the congress that contains that increased competition in it and that also contains a structure that will -- to the extent the people are required to obtain

insurance and people would be required to obtain insurance if they 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 in some cases 400% of poverty to defray some of the cost of the insurance that people would obtain. >> since this bill, the baucus bill we're talking about now -- unless you know something i don't know, which is very, very possible -- to my mind, though, to my ears, at least, i have not heard any republican support for this. so is this going to go down as a strictly partisan bill, should it pass the senate? >> well, i hope that it does not become just a strictly partisan bill. senator baucus has gone the extra several miles to work with three republicans -- senator snowe from maine, senator grassley from iowa, senator ensly from wyoming. i think that senator snowe is

very committed to trying to see health care reform enacted, and i hope that in the final analysis she will support the bill. i think senator grassley and senator endsly have stated more substantial objections to what has been proposed. i don't know where they'll finally come out. >> is it worth getting passed, to your mind, without bipartisan support? >> oh, i think that the reform proposals that we're talking about here are very important to try to get enacted. i would prefer to see it done on a bipartisan basis. if that's not possible, i think clearly we need to see if the votes are there on the democratic side to enact this legislation or some major part of it. >> that raises serious questions, given all that we've seen take place in these crazy town halls over the summer. the issues you raise now about getting democratic support, is that a foregone conclusion? >> no, i would say nothing is a foregone conclusion in this process. i do think that most democrats

are trying to work with the president to see if legislation can be enacted that accomplishes the major goals that he's set out. now, the details of this bill or any bill people have not signed on to yet, people have not had to commit themselves to yet, so it's very much a work in progress. >> you realistically think as people keep talking about that there can be a bill on the president's desk on this issue for him to sign before this year ends? >> well, i certainly hope there is a bill on the president's desk for him to sign, and as i say, i hope it contains the major reform elements that he's been talking about and that many of us think are very important. so time will tell here. i think this week will be important, but this effort in the finance committee to get a bill that we can bring to the floor hopefully in a bipartisan way is just one step in a multi-step process and we'll see

where it all comes out. >> two other quick things -- given that democrats control the white house, of course, the house and the senate, and given that democrats made this a central issue during the presidential campaign, if democrats, with all that control, cannot deliver meaningful health care reform to the country, what ought to happen to them in the midterm elections? what will happen come midterm elections, do you think? >> well, what i would like to see happen is we get a few more democrats elected. if democrats are not able to enact health care reform, it's not because we've got too many here, it's because we don't have quite enough. in the senate you need 60 votes in order to get over the threshold. we hope that massachusetts has acted to find a replacement for senator kennedy, whose loss was a terrific loss for us here in the senate. but we hope we are back to having 60 senators who will vote

to go ahead with this legislation, but time will tell on that as well. tavis: and finally, senator bingaman, a great place to end here, i think. what did you make of the -- i can't call it the trifecta, since you did five shows yesterday what do you make of the president's outreach on these five programs yesterday, beyond the media buzz? did he accomplish anything? >> well, i think he did. i think that people who watched those shows came away with a better understanding of what he's trying to accomplish and with an appreciation for the seriousness with which the president is approaching the issue. i think he has demonstrated time and again that this is his top priority. and i know those of us who are working here in the congress to get to the same place the president wants to get to are persuaded that it's his top priority as well. >> democrat in new mexico. senator bingaman. senator, i appreciate the time

to talk to you. >> thank you. nice talking to you. >> up next, oscar-winning actor forest whitaker. stay wh us. tavis: we're pleased to have forest whitaker on this program. the oscar-winner serves as executive producer of "brick city." the five-night series is on the sundance channel and focuses on the blight a newark, new jersey. here now, some scenes from "brick city." >> july, eight murders. august, 10 murders. we can stop this now! >> this september, a five-night special event -- >> don't put your lives at risk just to have friends. it's not worth it. >> sundance channel presents a story of real life, where change comes hard. the tough work, the sacrifice is about to begin. >> "brick city" premieres september 21 at 10:00, only on sundance channel.

>> of all the places that you could have profiled in a documentary series, why newark, new jersey? >> well, i was approached about the piece. they were shooting some footage and they were thinking about making this documentary more pleasant as the executive producer and a filmmaker. i looked at it and i realize that the story there is about cities all across this country, including my own in los angeles. and it was highlighting someone, you know, like cory booker, who is sort of these people rising up across the country who are trying to change things. and i said, ok, i'm going to be involved with that. i'm going to see if we can renew the cities inside it. tavis: i saw some comments by cory booker. he's a friend of mine. and he said -- i'm paraphrasing. he liked the series, but he thought it focused a bit too much on crime.

now, that's corey's point of view. it's hard to talk about newark without talking about the crime in newark. as a filmmaker, tell me how you tried to balance that particular issue. so it didn't overtake the whole project. >> i think that we're talking about how to get rid of some of the challenges that the city faces. one of the main challenges was crime. and what happens, though, when you go inside that crime, you start to see the people and meet the grass-roots people working on the problems. you try to get inside of them. to me this is about hope and it shows the heroics within the individuals that are living inside the city. so for me it's in some ways a celebration, while trying to rid us of a problem to have a good life. >> so you get inside crime and you discover some stories. there are a number of stories within the film. which one of the storylines with regard to individuals impacted you? >> there's so many. i think it's really interesting to watch jada and crete's relationship, because she's a

blood, he's a crip and they become a couple. they have a child, you know. they have a child. and it talks about reconciliation, and then she's coming from this environment where she's still kind of entangled with the prison system and the court system, but she continues to rise. and she ultimately starts this organization for nine women to start to help them heal the community, and to me that's a very powerful statement. >> how much of what holds young people back has to do with being trapped, do you think, by crime in cities all across the country? >> i think a great deal of it. i think when cory tries to address -- we were talking about this crime element. it eliminates a fear, which allows you to have a little bit of freedom to start to think about your own life and what you can do with it. you know, when disenfranchised people are -- when kids are feeling like they have no option and the only option to actually make money is through crime, you

know, then we have to show that there's other ways, you know, so it's hideous inside some of the communities in the country, because it offers in some ways opportunity. tavis: yes. >> and in the other ways death and the destruction of a life. tavis: there's some folk, no doubt some watching this now, who have never bought this argument and never will. there are a lot of politicians who have been elected to office in the state and stayed in office because they come down on one side of this question, which is the crime side. what did you take away, having done this documentary, about the connection, the intersection, between crime and poverty? it's easy for politicians to say tough on crime. nobody wants to acknowledge the connection between crime and poverty. having done this now, what did you see about that? >> well, you recognize that when they implement these programs and free up the neighborhoods from some of the crime, the businesses, like verizon, blue cross, continental airways, all

these people start to come into the communities because the communities start to become safer, which in turn creates more jobs and more opportunities, which at the same time raises the values of the people's homes that are in those communities. so it's just a blossoming effect after you start to address that issue. tavis: you got a chance 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 it was a question. but i digress on that point. you got a chance to see cory booker up close. he's been profiled in a lot of places as an up and comer, young guy, yale law, rhodes scholar, brilliant guy. i'm not sure that i understand all the reasons why cory wanted to be mayor of newark. by getting a chance to watch this guy up close, what do you take away -- what was your takeaway from watching him specifically, a young, african-american male, mayor, trying to deal with this crime problem in an overwhelmingly

black city? >> well, what's so powerful about him is his moral center about what he's trying to accomplish. he's got a vision for the city. but he has a vision and he's able to inspire people to believe in the vision and empower people. people on the streets, everyone that he comes in contact with to believe that their voice means something. so i was really -- i was so impressed with him because i think he is a model of what a lot of us -- the mantels that a lot of us have to try to take up, and he's willing to spend his life and his time. you'll see in the documentary where he's getting out of cars and, you know, he's talking to china, trying to bring business into the port and the next minutes he's getting out of the car saying, "what are you doing out? it's 1:00 in the morning." the next time he's playing basketball in the projects to talking to some people about bringing businesses in. he's willing to roll up his sleeves and say i can change my environment, i can make things happen, i can make this universe happen the way i want it to.

so i couldn't be more impressed with him as an individual. >> cory is a person of faith, i'm a person of faith and i know you are as well. and you were talking about the bible verse that says where there is no vision, that people perish. somebody's got to have a vision. the question is whether or not in newark vision is enough. put another way -- what are the resources that have to be available to really fight crime the motto that they started to use was to look at the neighborhoods over the last three years or so that had the largest spaces for crime, to take individuals from the academy and put them there, put people that knew them there in those environments to try to -- in the past a lot of our neighborhoods that are policedtor keep people out. in this case we're putting people into the neighborhoods to try to make sure the citizens can live their lives. they put cameras around, so we can capture those things.

i think that his collaborative relationship with gary mccarthy, the head of the police there, is a great model, really. tavis: there's a lot that's been written about this notion of community-based policing, to your point now that police have to have relationships with the communities they protect and serve. here in l.a., where you and i live, we've had this debate for years. and you recall it many years ago, when tom bradley was mayor of this city, we had this debate about whether or not cops, who work in l.a., ought to in fact live in l.a. and in cities across the country, they've experimented with this, and the logic is that if policemen police communities that they live and work in, there's a different connection. >> yes. tavis: because this is their community as well, as opposed to policing here and driving an hour and a half away to another community where you live, you're not a stakeholder in this particular community.

i say all that to ask what your sense was of the relationship between those who do the work of policing in newark with these communities that you were filming in, the people. >> i mean, i saw a kind of coalescing of the communities. cory lives there in the neighborhood. gary moved into newark. he's bought a home there and he lives there. >> the police chief. >> right, the police chief. one of the elements we have to look at, too, is the grass-roots element, which is the street warriors, you know, and the fathers who have lost their sons and children. and those people are interfacing with those police officers because they are inside of the community, and they're trying to offer the help that they can help, and they're always on the scene. it's an effort that needs to come from each individual as well. that's the only way that communities can really move forward is for the individuals inside of it to be and feel empowered that their voice can be heard and that they can change what's going on there,

and that's what's occurring by the police officers being in the community, by everyone living in the community, by the grass-roots groups who are trying to change things. it all like continues, like i say, to blossom out. >>, we of course, in our community and across the country, we love forest whitaker. but even when forest whitaker shows up with his crew, even if he is forest whitaker, who is beloved by us, when you show up with a camera crew, what happens to the people that you're filming? i guess i'm getting at whether or not you can get what is authentic on film. can you get the truth? cameras have a way of changing people when they show up. talk to me about what you think you got in this series when your cameras showed up. >> he will with, i mean, mark eleven and mark benjamin -- mark levin was the director of the piece. i spent a long period of time getting to know the people in the community. tavis: before you started filming. >> yeah, coming in and shooting and shooting and shooting to

gain trust, to let them know that this is just about their voices being heard. i came in just to meet people and to say hi and talk to people, to let them know also that i was truly involved in this and behind what was going on. and there was a comfort level that started to happen, because shoot, the people realized that this was their opportunity to say what they need to say, you know. and what we were trying to do and what i was always talking to mark about and hoping to do was to show sort of the heroics, again, in the everyday individual to recognize that the heroism that goes on on a daily basis just by sometimes getting up and going outside your door and walking down the street to a job that you possibly don't love to take care of kids in a school system that you don't like, you know what i mean? tavis: i'm glad that sundance is showing this for five consecutive nights and it's good

of them to do that. but i have some sense what the sundance demographic is, and i'm raising this only because sundance clearly ain't no b.e.t., we know what we're talking about here. and i'm wondering whether or not -- i think the answer is probably yes, but i want your take on this. is this the right audience? is this the right audience to see this? ultimately we want to get traction on this issue, and we need to get traction with the right people. tell me what people are going to get when they get a chance to see this. >> well, i think it's definitely going to cause people to think and realize that there are solutions to problems that are facing the country, recognizing that we can apply it in other cities. hopefully other mayors, other police chiefs, other people will see it. i do want -- i do believe that the community itself has to see the project, too, because that's a large element inside of the correction, you know what i mean? but if the city hall and the mayor are the first touch that the citizens have after their house, the family, the neighborhood, city hall, you know, the mayor.

so if mayors across the country start to take notice, you would be used as a model. then inside that model they'll start to contact the people as well from the grass roots and hopefully something can happen from there. i think it's an extremely positive thing. i'd like it to branch out for people to see it. maybe on the net that will happen. they still might not get all the demographics, but -- tavis: you'll get them. forest whitaker did a lost great work and he's done it again on this project. the piece is called "brick city." five nights now showing on the sundance channel. forest, always good to have you on the program. >> thanks, man. tavis: thanks for your work on the project. catch me on the weekends on public radio international. you can go to pbs.org and i'll see you next time on pbs. good night from l.a., thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a

conversation with herbal pert on a musical collaboration. there's so many things that wal-mart is looking forward to doing, like helping people live better, but mostly we're looking forward to helping build stronger communities and relationships. because of your help, the best is yet to come. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance. working to improve financial literacy and the economic empowerment that comes with it. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like thank you. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

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