medicare drug bill. all of them make up the deficit. obama spending is 7%. as mike said, it is is an investment. and the company is companies do it all the time. a company going into receivership will borrow more to restructure. this is borrowing to restructure. not wasteful spending. david: the rocco comment is because of the way mike is dressed. i think he looks terrific. get a picture of him. >> he ought to be in ie guys and dolls." david: but this has come after the stimulus. this is new stuff. >> that 7% number sounds like a number cooked up on wall street. biden has effectively said to the american people pile into the bike of my space ship while i point it at the center of the sun. no one would have won the presidential election if they told the truth. if they said what john rutledge said and stopped whipping fastballs by the american people the size of jupiter. the death will be three-quarters the size of the g.d.p. this is delusional. david: elizabeth for president. >> this is the worst form of politics. this is pure pandering on the part of biden b

s, the managed-care plans that take care of medicare patients, in the 2003 medicare drug bill those plans were given extra payments and they were overpaid on purpose to try to entice them into -- back into the program -- a lot had left and their payments were cut. so they're getting paid considerably more than it actually cost them to take care of these patients. the democrats have been saying for years they would like to cut those additional payments to simply bring them back to parity with the rest of medicare and what it costs. that's money that they know that they can cut out that they'll have that money to then spend on this effort. >> ifill: of course, this is just the house side. on the senate side, things aren't as cumbaya. there is more than one bill percolating over there. >> it's more fraction than the senate tends to be, the health pensions, labor committee working on the fourth week of a mark-up and they've gone through hundreds, literally hundreds of amendments and they are, alas, wrapping up their mark-up even as we speak -- they are expected to finish. this is senator kenn

medicare bill was passed. the medicare or prescription drug bill three or four years ago, it was a bill written by the drug companiesompanies and the insurance companies. this bill now is different. what we hope we can do in this bill is provide help for small businesses when there are only 25 employees. if he has one or two employees that need recommend aokayed or one of these 20 or 30 or $50,000 a year buy logic drugs, it is going to blow his health insurance premiums through the roofs. that's why we are offering to go into the exchange to throw in with a much larger business pool. >> i have to stop you, because my producer is telling me, i have to hit a break. this conversation is going to continue. did you hear that, mr. sullivan. they are going to essentially be telling you that under the present system, some of the murder will be alleviated from you. you buy that, yes or no? >> no. >> we will be right back. stay with us. we will continue this conversation. >>> my three guests have heard this argument, right, that it is socialized medicine and that the government is unable, completely unable, to do anything rig

result of two tax cuts that went primarily to the wealthiest few americans and a medicare drug program that wasn't paid for. bill: all right. so he's back on the campaign trail. >> now wait a minute, mr. obama. the deficit as a result of the tax cuts and the drug plan, katrina, and the wars was $485 billion. it went up to $1 trillion when bush left office because of the tarp program and $1.3 trillion because of the tarp program under obama. now it's not $1.3 trillion. it's $2 trillion. the extra $700 billion he added. in the six months this guy has been in office, federal spending went from $3 trillion to $4 trillion. bill: let's cut to the chase. how much trouble is he in six months after he took office? can come back quickly? say he hires you tomorrow. can you change this or is it now three and a half years of chaos? >> it's right on the cusp. health care reform could pass or could fail, ditto cap and trade. and it's right on the cusp. it could go either way, which is why people need to write their senators and express their opinion. that really works. but it's right on the cusp. now, health care reform and ca

drug prices under medicare. >>> the house also voted to restrict executive bonuses. the bill prohibits companies from restructuring bonuses that encouraged taking financial risks that could threaten the economy. it was written after nine banks that receive government money to pay their executives millions of dollars in bonuses. >>> senator christopher dodd has prostate cancer. he made the announcement with his wife at his side today. the 65-year-old said doctors had detected the early stages of the cancer. he plans to have surgery in august and plans to be back to work when congress reconvenes in september. >>> get ready to pay fomore for various items in the district. under the plan, the district sales tax would jump up to 6%. the current 20 cents a gallon gas tax would go up by 3.5 cents. a pack of cigarettes will cost you an extra 50 cents. all that is left is the mayor's approval. >>> another black eye for metrobus after a driver was suspended. >> do you think you have seen a lot of president obama? we will tell you how many times he has been in front of the camera. >> ho

the savings that we squeeze out of the system here, we fill the doughnut hole for the medicare prescription drug bill. so that seniors won't drop off after a certain level and then not get covered again until their bill goes up to $5,000 or so a year. that's what we are doing here. and so, mr. speaker, it's important that we all ask the american people during the course of this discussion to remember that our friends on the other side who had their opportunity for health care reform, had their opportunity for energy reform, controlled the house, senate, white house, didn't do anything. now they are coming to us saying that we are doing it wrongly. but it's important to remember that theirp top republican strategist issued a memorandum to the republicans in the house of representatives that they have to be against health care because if they defeat health care they defeat barack obama. and they bring him down. now, when you're listening to the debate on the issues and you hear unsubstaniated rumors, mr. speaker, it's important that the american people hear that and see that within the context of this

bill from the american people. it was a medicare written by the drug industry and for the drug industry. it was a medicare bill written for the insurance companies and by the insurance companies and it is pure and simple it started medicare down the road to privatization six years ago when it happened. we're seeing the same tactics today. many republicans want to defeat health care reform in order to break president obama, making it in the words of one of my conservative colleagues, making it his waterloo. a fine example of partisanship trumping the national interests. special interest groups, the health insurance industry, the drug industry are spending millions of dollars -- millions of dollars to influence health reform legislation. they're deriding everything that doesn't inflate profits. special interests are pulling out all of the stops. it is the same page out of a tired playbook that informed then private citizen ronald reagan in the early 1960's when he warned americans if medicare were enacted, ronald reagan said, one of these days one of these days if -- reagan said, one of the

result of two tax cuts that went primarily to the wealthiest few americans and a medicare drug program that wasn't paid for. bill: all right. so he's back on the campaign trail. >> now wait a minute, mr. obama. the deficit as a result of the tax cuts and the drug plan, katrina, and the wars was $485 billion. it went up to $1 trillion when bush left office because of the tarp program and $1.3 trillion because of the tarp program under obama. now it's not $1.3 trillion. it's $2 trillion. the extra $700 billion he added. in the six months this guy has been in office, federal spending went from $3 trillion to $4 trillion. bill: let's cut to the chase. how much trouble is he in six months after he took office? can come back quickly? say he hires you tomorrow. can you change this or is it now three and a half years of chaos? >> it's right on the cusp. health care reform could pass or could fail, ditto cap and trade. and it's right on the cusp. it could go either way, which is why people need to write their senators and express their opinion. that really works. but it's right on the cusp. now, health care reform and ca

you were here in 2003 for the medicare vote on the prescription drug program. there's a trigger in that bill. you supported that bill, as far as i can tell. given the discussion last week, rahm emanuel sang a trigger is still an option on the table for them -- is that something you could support? >> the current majority demonstrated their complete disdain for a trigger. when the trigger for medicare spending was triggered, what did they do but come to the floor and say they table the revolution -- the resolution. they have already demonstrated distain for that type of activity. i do not know that i would look to that to be treated any differently in this new plan. the track record is not great. i also want to comment on the issue of consumer directed health care plans for people in lower income groups. in 2005 when republicans were in charge, we passed the availability of health opportunity counts, essentially countshsa port people on -- essentially an sha for folks on medicare. they would have discretionary control for health care expenditures. they were not used by the end of the year, a p

drugs for that populate -- population. the republican bill took that population that was medicaid and medicare and switch them to medicare, increased the amount of money to pay for the same drugs to the same people it was a couple billion dollar windfall for the drug companies with no explanation just a windfall. these insurance companies get rebates from different drug producers but they don't pass those on to the customers then of course, repay a certain amount for your pharmaceutical coverage, if you have a high amount of drug costs to end up with the doughnut hole suddenly no payment or help from anybody have to pay all of the cost of the drug until you get to a certain level then that the government helps that is all within the course of one year. it is a very efficient way to cover pharmaceutical coverage it should have been in medicare benefits and people should have covered it under the medicare program is self and it would have reflected under the:pay and the part to be premium and we could have negotiated the premium. when you buy a drugs for that population you think you have a buyers' discount as opposed to you

president are committed to paying for this over time, in the last bill, the medicare bill in 2003, billions of dollars of new drug benefits were provided for america's seniors. that's good news. they needed the drug benefit, not a dime was paid for it, not an effort to put any money on the table, so we are committed to -- >> we're talking about this plan. you won't say whether you support the surtax? >> the ideas are in play. this is a legitimate way to put forward. the president put forward his ideas. in all of the plans more than half the money pays for this proposal is already in the system, it's money that is misdirected now to efforts that don't work very well, so a lot of the money is really coming from savings and efficiencies from fraud and abuse from other areas and being directed to high quality lower cost care. >> does the president believe f everybody benefits under health care reform, everybody should pay? >> absolutely. >> he does, then why is it he doesn't support taxing benefits for employees? >> he's always said from the outset that he's acted under the notion that you should keep your coverage i

and what happened when the prescription drug bill was passed several years ago, under medicare, they specifically prohibited you negotiating -- they prohibited medicare from negotiating with the drug companies for the cheapest available price on drugs. specifically said you cannot negotiate. so, what we've said is in this reform process, we are going to turn that around. and to the pharmaceutical industry's credit, they have sat down and started negotiating, and they've already said -- they've already put $80 billion in deep discounts and rebates on the table that would help to close the so-called doughnut hole that a lot of seniors are suffering under medicare. they've already committed to that. that would cut the costs of the doughnut hole in about half. so, that's a significant savings. i think we can obtain more savings. one other thing that's being debated right now in capitol hill, though, that people need to keep an eye on, one of the ways to lower prescription drug costs is to move to generics.

. >> that's right, but i did the same thing with the medicare modernization act six years ago, a $400 billion, big bill, prescription drugsand i refused to use the 50-vote threshold. i'll just comment quickly. think the house will write the bill, pass the bill for sure. i think it will be a bad bill. >> rose: bad bill because it will have what? >> because it won't slow the growth of cost over time. basically howard, this is where we disagree. he thinks the government comes in and squeezes and controls it and i believe fundamentally that markets will work if we have better data, more transparency, more accountability. knowing what you're getting when you're going to see a doctor, which people don't know, and you're using some of your money to buy it. and that's the difference, i think, mainly between us. >> rose: and you believe public option is necessary in order to make insurance companies more competitive? >> the insurance companies are terrible to the people who get their insurance policies, many of them. not all of them. if you work for i.b.m. or microsoft, you've got a great insurance policy. it is a little tough on

medicare part d, we can negotiate with a drug meant there -- we can get rid of the doughnut hole by negotiating with a drug manufacturers. in the house bill, they took a different approach. i know that there are a lot of people who want this marked up and rushed to the floor for a vote before the august break. maybe it can happen. maybe it cannot. we should not have an artificial deadline. we should take our time and do it right. we can do it right in the month of july, and that is great. if we need additional time in order to get it done right, we should do that. this is an issue that will face everyone in america. >> we're just about out of time. is their frustration with the liberals that run the committee, waxman of energy and commerce and rangel on ways and means, that they are driving the train on this? >> it there is a growing frustration, not only among conservative blue dogs but across our caucus of big items being put before us with an artificial deadline and in rushed to the committee process on to the house floor. i tell you what the american people want -- they want health care reform but they want us to slow down, get it rig

medicare bill. you remember, howard, several years ago you ran in part on this issue, how the drug companies and the insurance companies wrote the medicare law that george bush pushed through congress. it was a betrayal of the middle class. it was a betrayal of consumers and patients because the drug companies and insurance companies had their way. those days are gone. i want to work with republicans. i want a bipartisan bill. i got a lot of republican votes when i was elected to the senate in '06 but the votes i got were not people saying, hey, play along with the drug industry and the insurance industry and do what they want in health care. that's exactly the opposite message i took. >> do you think the president needs to do more with the senate to get a good bill passed? has he got to step in here more? >> yeah, the president needs to do a couple things. i think he's begun to hit his stride listening to those clips you just played in the supermarket in virginia. the president needs to be out talking, you know, not through the screen of the drug industry or the insurance industry but the president

bill. for those of you that don't know what the doughnut hole is. the way the medicare prescription drug plan works, it helps you pay for your prescription drugs until you hit a certain ceiling, a certain level of several,0 thousand dollars and then the help from the federal government goes away and you have to pay out-of-pocket expenses of several more thousands of dollars until you get to the point where help kicks in again. that's why they call it the doughnut hole, because there is a hole in the middle where you don't get any help and it costs seniors thousands of dollars. one of the things we can do through reform is to make sure we are moving to close that doughnut hole. that's a commitment that will be contained in this health care reform bill that we get passed. this young man right here. we will get a young guy in here. >> my name is brooks. i am going to be a junior in high school. my question is, for students, how can we help get this reform passed? >> well i appreciate that. i like that. first of all, i very much appreciate that as a junior in high school you are already thin

medicare advantageplans -- these are the h..o.'s and p.p.'s, the managed-care pla at take care of mecare patients, in the2003 medice drug bill thoseplans were gin extra payments and they were overpaid purpose to try to entice them into back into therogram -- a lot had left and their payments were cut. so they're getting paid considerably more than actuallcost them toake care of these patient the demrats have beenaying foyears they would like tout tho additional paynts to simply brinthem back to parity with the rest of medicare and what it costs. at's money that theynow tha they c cut out that they'l have that mon to then spend o thiseffort. ifill: of course, this is just theouse sid on the sete side, things aren't as cumbay there is more than one bill percolating over the. >> it's more fraction thanhe senate tends to be the health pensions, laborcommittee workg on the fourth week a mark-up and they've gone through hundreds, literally hureds of amendments and they are, alas, wrapping up theirmark-up even as we speak -- they are expected to finish. this is senor kennedy's committee. have not seen senator kennedy throu this markup process -- h

medicare. the fact is, we've got to write the right bill, the best bill. i hope republicans support it. i hope the drug companies and the insurance industry and the ama support it. but if they don't, we've still got to write the right bill. we've got to work to get this through congress. we're hearing so much from people at home that they want change. people we want to make sure we protect the system, the parts that work, and that means if you have health insurance, you can keep what you have. but so many are facing the problems the looper family faces, with higher out-of-pocket costs. talk to any number of small businesses who are just getting killed by these oppressive insurance costs. they want to cover their employees, but it's harder and harder. talk about big companies that internationally are having difficulty competing because of these high costs. we need to do both. we need to provide care for people, for people that don't have insurance or have inadequate insurance and we need to cut costs. and the president's plan and the plan revoted out of our committee does that. >> sherrod brown, thank y

bill do? they took the population that was medicaid and medicare and switched them to medicare, it increased the amount of money to pay for the same drugs for the same people. it amounted i think to at least a couple of billion dollars windfall for the drug companies. no explanation for it. just a windfall. these insurance companies get rebates from different drug producers -- they don't pass the rebates on for the customers. then when you pay a certain amount for your pharmaceutical coverage, if you have a high amount of drug cost you are in with the doughnut hole -- you have to pay all of the cost of the drugs until you get to a certain level and then you get the federal government to help. that is all in the course of the year. a very inefficient way to cover pharmaceutical coverage. it should have been and medicare benefits and people should have had it covered under the medicare program itself and it would have been reflected in your copiague -- copays and premium and we could negotiate the price. millions of people covered by medicare and you are buying drugs for the population -- you would think there would be a buyers' discount

the fact is, in the last major health care bill that was passed in congress was in 2003 by republican when the extended prescription drug benefit to the medicare program. they did not pay for any of it. a bar and that entire program. we cannot afford that as a nation. -- they borrowed that entire program. right now the house bill has half a trillion dollars in cuts to the system. i think we can probably get another $200 billion to $300 billion reduced. that is why i'm encouraged about this conversation happening right now because we can get more savings. we may have to increase a few means of revenue. right now the proposal is to ask those amongst us that have done very well to give a bit more in order to pass health care reform. whether that number is people making $275,000, $500,000, that is an important discussion to have, but i do not think it is unrealistic to ask people who have done extremely well in this economy to pay a little more to make sure that their neighbors have coverage. host: nancy pelosi suggested revising the tax measures. she said that she would prefer to tax fewer people. we have a comment on twitter. carroll says -- is

drug companies wrote the medicare laws. the health insurance industry wrote health care legislation. those -- this bill -- those days are gone. this bill is not for them. it's for the american people. that health care industry doesn't like this bill that much. that's because they didn't get their way on issue after issue. they did sometimes. they did dramatically on occasion in our committee. but by and large this bill's not for them. this bill's for the american people. it's for american families who are afraid that unaffordable health care costs will deny their children a chance for a healthy life. everybody in this chamber has met dozens of children like that who needed the children's health insurance program to keep their families from going bankrupt and to keep their health care going. children who need this health care legislation, families who need this bill or they're going to too often choose between medicine and food, between heating their homes in the winter and cooling their homes in the summer and on the one hand and going to the done the other. this bill is for american families who don't

fact is that the last major health care bill that was passed in congress by the republicans in 2003 when they extended prescription drug benefits for the medicare program, they did not pay for any of that. a bar of every dime to finance that expansion. we cannot afford that as a nation. our kids cannot afford that. we have to pay for this health care bill. i think we can do that in the majority through cuts to our current rate of health care growth. the house bill has about $500 billion in cuts to our health care system. i think we could squeeze out more. i am encouraged by the discussions that are happening between henry waxman and the blue dogs because i think we can get more cuts. we will have to probably increase more stream of revenue. the proposal now is to ask those among us who have done very well to give a little bit more in order to pass health care reform. whether that number in the and his people making over to its $70,000 or over $500,000, that is an important discussion to have. it is not unrealistic to ask people who have done very well by this economy to pay a little bit more. this is to make sure that their neighbors have healt

bill do? they took the population that was medicaid and medicare and switched them to medicare, it increased the amount of money to pay for the same drugsor the same people. it amounted i think to at least a couple of billion dollars windfall for the drug companies. no explanation for it. just a windfall. these insurance companies get rebates from different drug producers -- they don't pass the rebates on for the customers. then when you pay a certain amount for your pharmaceutical coverage, if you have a high amount of drug cost you are in with the doughnut hole -- you have to pay all of the cost of the drugs until you get to a certain level and then you get the federal government to help. that is all in the course of the year. a very inefficient way to cover pharmaceutical coverage. it should have been and medicare benefits and people should have had it covered under the medicare program itself and it would have been reflected in your copiague -- copays and premium and we could negotiate the price. millions of people covered by medicare and you are buying drugs for the population -- you would think there would be a buyers' discount as

bill do? they took the population that was medicaid and medicare and switched them to medicare, it increased the amount of money to pay for the same drugse people. it amounted i think to at least a couple of billion dollars windfall for the drug companies. no explanation for it. just a windfall. these insurance companies get rebates from different drug producers -- they don't pass the rebates on for the customers. then when you pay a certain amount for your pharmaceutical coverage, if you have a high amount of drug cost you are in with the doughnut hole -- you have to pay all of the cost of the drugs until you get to a certain level and then you get the federal government to help. that is all in the course of the year. a very inefficient way to cover pharmaceutical coverage. it should have been and medicare benefits and people should have had it covered under the medicare program itself and it would have been reflected in your copiague -- copays and premium and we could negotiate the price. millions of people covered by medicare and you are buying drugs for the population -- you would think there would be a buyers' discount as opposed t