it's my understanding that senator ben nelson is ready, has an amendment. i think we've given it to your staff. this may be one where it's

trying to work on some kind of a compromise that could pass muster and, yes, it is upsetting that ben nelson can get the deal he can get for the state of nebraska. but the problem is, when you don't have a single republican vote wants to step up to vote, and this will require 60 votes to pass, what you going to do? guest: here is " the new york

the "washington times", senator richard berg, north carolina republican is saying, you have ben nelsoncrats of buying votes for their health care bill. that was his take on the brokering between senator nelson and democratic leadership. let's go to chicago, doris. caller: good morning, i have a comment on the health care bill. but first time i am a life-long democrat. and ben nelson and stupak, they are the dog poop of the party. and hurray for bernie sanders, the independent from vermont. he was so p-o'd for cobern and the democratic bill, guess what he got? $10 billion, and that was for federally-funded health care centers, they care for you, if you do not have health insurance it pays for what you can w3afford and based on your income, and it gives scholarships to fund health ç care workers who need health care clinics. he is my idol, he did not put in a gun law, he did not restrict women's rights, he's working for the american people and i thank him. host: chad, the independent line in seattle. caller: good morning. host: is health care being rushed? caller: yeah, you look at obam

ben nelson, blanch lincoln. are they okay now because of this, quote, deal? >> that's what we're all waiting to see. it is funny to sort of watch the spotlight move from one whoever the 60th vote is at that moment to the next. it was olympia snow. then it was ben nelson for a long time. blanch lincoln has been in that spotlight. she sort of takes herself out of it. she's not as high profile as some of the others. what we're looking for is blanch lincoln from arkansas, ben nelson from nebraska still two of the big names that everybody is waiting to see. the one who has popped up recently has been jim web from virginia simply because he's been vote ing with the republicans on a lot of these amendments. there's some concern that maybe he's not as strong as we thought he could be. he could be the 60th vote. >> lehrer: when the president said, as we had in a clip after the meeting with the democrats, he said there are still differences. what's he talking about? >> well, the biggest difference i think by far has to do with abortion language and how tough the restri

. >>> the health care debate in the senate continues but ben nelson keeps his anti-abortion. and the republican stunt opposing an amendment to force all congress members to enroll in a public option backfires in their face. three democrats sign on to co-sign on the amendment including sherrod brown of ohio. >>> rush limbaugh goes where no one would debating on a ridiculous couch. >> if you don't have money you're going to live in a bungalow somewhere. that's -- >> we're talking about health care p. >> what's the difference? >>> the president talking job creation today in pennsylvania demonstrating the beauty of town halls without screened questions. >> i was wondering if maybe you checked out some of the statistics about legalizing prostitution, gambling, drugs and nonviolent crime in order to stimulate some of the economy. >>> and a bad week for tiger woods gets worse. new reports of hush money paid to his nightclub paramour and harry scheer on the privacy tradeoff that tiger woods can't seem to figure out. at least there's no new animation. >>> all the news and commentary n

the next night, harry reid shook hands with ben nelson. that produced the abortion adjustment.got a congratulatory phone call from the president. host: as drew armstrong told us this morning, this is not the end. there will be signed of reconciliation to be determined with the house bill which includes a public option parade in a few minutes, the senate will gavel in ended about 50 minutes, the senate will vote on final passage of hr 3590, the health care bill, $780 billion. we will show you bits of the boat. back to your phone calls on health care reform. middletown, delaware, you oppose the bill? caller: yes, i do. i feel that if you're going to vote on health care issues, go to the heart of the matter. that is the extent -- spent expanding price of health care. it is way out of control in every state in this country. there is no reason for these high health care bills. the cost is more than anyone can absorb. the co-pays are off the wall. i know people who have copays of $50-$100. they need to look at best, not this foolishness they have been doing in washington. they don't

reed finally got that 60th vote from nebraska's ben nelson. nelson made his support known saturday morning. >> while each of my colleagues may differ on how to fix the system , i know of no members who are suggesting that the current system is satisfactory. i know of no member who doesn't think that we need to change our health care system. where we differ-- and i say so with great respect to all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle-- is in the way we fix our health care system. >> reporter: to get nelson on board, reed had to include stricter language on abortion coverage in his final amendments. as a result, the bill allows states to opt out of plans that cover abortion in the new insurance exchanges and those who enroll in plans that cover the procedure would have to pay for it separately. nelson also won a commitment from the federal government to cover the entire cost of nebraska's medicare expansion under the bill in perpetuity. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell blasted the deal- making at a sunday afternoon news conference.

center ben nelson was behind that and no new taxes on cosmetic surgery. there was a tax on tanning salons. there is higher medicaid payments in states thatáé are frontier state. certain nonprofits are exempt from tax on health insurers in the bill. that is some of the fine print in this bill. we want to know from you this morning, does the dealmaking matter in the end? here is senator riegle met yesterday. >> we just completed a bill, $600 billion for the defense of this country. you'll know how difficult it was to pass the bill. one way we were able to do that piece of legislation is we had to do a number of different compromises. as you know, that dealt with extending the safety net, food stamps. we were not able to put the child tax in error because senators did not want that very bad legislation is all about. it is the art of compromise. in this great country of ours, nevada has many different problems than does new hampshire. michigan has many different problems than those georgia. we have wide range of different needs throughout regions of this cou

the new abortion provisions are significantly weaker than the amendment i introduced with senator ben nelson of nebraska to ensure that the hyde amendment which prohibits federal dollars from paying for elective abortions also applies to any new federal health programs created by congress. the hyde amendment has been public law since 1976. the nelson-hatch-casey amendment which is almost identical to the stupak amendment in the house, was included in the house-passed health reform bill in early november by a vote of 240-194. it is important to note that it was supported by 64 house democrats. let me repeat that. the stupak amendment was supported by 64 house democrats, and despite that vote and the support of seven senate democrats, the majority decided not to include this language in the reid bill or the reid manager's amendment. now, i find that absolutely outrageous. moreover, the reid conscience protections are much weaker than those included in the house-passed health reform bill. the house bill included the hyde-weldon conscience protections that have been included in the h.h.s. approp

guest: that was the main sticking point with senator ben nelson from nebraska. y leader harry reid met with him for a marathon session for two days at the end of last week to work out compromise language. i talked with senator nelson after the vote this morning and he is adamant that that language does not change in conference. i2congressman stupac has been talking about pressing for the house language but it seems as though moving in that direction could lose support of liberals on the language. host: thank you for the update and have a happy holiday. @uq>> coming up next, two days guest"washington journal." there'll be a forum on the 2010 political landscape and later, a look inside blair house, the president's official guest house. coming up in 30 minutes, general ga

there is an amendment by senator ben nelson addressing the abortion issue. what does this say and what of the prospects for passage? guest: process -- prospects for passage the current liberal pro- choice democrats are not good. they have boats to the beating. co-sponsored by republican orrin hatch, mirrors the language that was inserted into the house bill that was pushed by rep bart stupak, a pro-life democrat from michigan. essentially it would make clear that no federal funds could be spent for abortion procedures as part of health care reform package. it would more directly codify that idea on the books and make it a little bit stronger than it already is. then nelson -- ben nelson has said it would not vote to end debate in the senate without language like this. we will see what happens if it does fail. the debate started last night and i expect some sort of vote next week. host: 51 not vote for passage without the abortion language included -- if he would not vote for passage without the abortion language included, harry reid would be bought -- one bo

but you've got to compliment ben nelson for playing the price is right.a medicaid agreement for nebraska sca that puggets the federal government on the hook -- puts the federal government on the hook forever. not for six years, not for ten years. this isn't the louisiana purchase. this is the nebraska windfall agreement. it means that if you're a taxpayer in virginia or you're a taxpayer in ohio or you're a taxpayer in arkansas, you're going to pay taxes to make sure that nebraskaance don't have to pay any portion of the medicaid expansion in the future. this isn't what the american people signed up for. this isn't how this process is supposed to work. when we legislate we're supposed to tax equally and we're supposed to apply equally. what we're in to now is a continuation of what has been so awful for the past 12 months, and that's picking winners and losers. harry reid's only allowed some to win and others to lose. but let me assure you in this whole process the american people are the ones who lose. this health care bill will be incredibly expensive,

ben nelson, anch lincoln. are they okay now becse of this, que, deal? >>hat's what we're all waiting to see. it is funny toort of watch the spotlight move froone whoever the 60th ve is at that moment to theext. it waslympia snow. then it wa ben nelsonor a long time. blanch linco has been in th spotlight. she sort of takes rself out of it. she's not as high prile as some of the others. what we're looking f is blan lincoln from arkansas, ben lson from nebraska still two of t big names that everybodis waiting to see. e one who has popped up cently has been jim web from virginia sply because he's been vote ing with the republicans on a lot of the amendments. there's some concernhat maybe he'sot as strong as we thought could be. he cou be the 60th vote. >> lrer: when the president said, as we hain a clip after e meeting with the democrats,e said there are still differences. what's he talking about? well, the biggest difference i thinky far has to do with abortion lauage and how tough threstrictions should bon abortion. senator benelson of nebraska who we've

gentlemen, we just hea ben nelson, thfamously sought-off senator om nebraska, say this weend that this is not about whether the heth care system gets fixed but the wa you fithe health care syst. so was this, as rry reid put it today, e grand compromise of the senate or w it just back room dealing at its worst? senator brow >> it was a good comomise. i n't like some of the deals that were made. i don'like the deal that was ma on abortion. i thk that that compromises a woman's right to choose. i think that i don't like that the public oion is no longer in or the medica buy-in. i don't ke some of the other things. but overalthis bill makes a big difference. strengthens medicare. it provides tax centives to small business so they can begin to coverheir employs. most small businesses want t do that. i thinthis legislation is importt when you look at the inrance reform. immediately going into efft next yr when the president signit is no longer allowing a child to be. a child with a e-existing condition to losehe insurance for the family. i mean we're goingo prohibit that. no more discriminao

. >> reporter: nebraska democrat ben nelson-- one of the last holdouts-- is still insisting on tighter restrictions on abortion coverage, as he told a radio interviewer today. >> as it is right now, without further modifications, it isn't sufficient. there is a lot improvement on the legislation but the basic question about funding of abortion has not been fully answered yet. >> reporter: and republicans have stepped up their efforts to block the bill, using every procedural tool they can. >> i'd offer unanimous consent... >> reporter: the debate came to a standstill for a time yesterday, when oklahoma republican tom coburn forced senate clerks to start reading a 767-page democratic amendment. >> section 2006. >> reporter: the proposal was eventually pulled. but coburn has threatened the same tactic when the final version of the bill-- roughly 2,000 pages-- comes to the floor. the republican goal: to make democrats give up and start over. >> there's a chance, there's a chance that we could stop this-- start beginning in january. we'd all be willing to come back, sit down together, nego

when you have different deals like ben nelson -- i don't think it is fair because you have a federal law that is not uniform. i think ultimately you are going to have people with health problems because they are going to basically go to nebraska because they no picnic and go there because ben nelson has a paid for forever deal, and i think someone would challenge it in court. i think it should be deemed constitutional because the laws are not uniform from state to state. guest: well, senator kay bailey hutchison, republican from texas, made an argument and this could be one of the votes we see later today that the bill is unconstitutional for essentially the reason the caller said, because the bill treats states differently, and therefore she is making the case and violates equal protection clause under the constitution that deals with, neb. treated one way for medicaid expansion and another state treated another way. that it runs afoul of the equal protection clause. one of the things, there is likely to be up to five votes on these types of points of order. potentially all raising

ben nelson, conservative senator from nebraska but a democrat insisted on fairly tough restrictions. in both bills women that want abortion coverage will have to write a separate check to get that coverage. in the house bill they have to get a dmeetly different policy which is something the senate senate doesn't have. but ultimately the differences are small and i think that they will have to try to find a way to ultimately this is going to come down to hard, political calculations. whatever they can do and still get 60 votes if in the senate and 218 votes in the house that is what they going to do. >> woodruff: the role of the catholic church in this. >> they have been very outspoken in a unusual way. the catholic bishops made it clear there is only some language they will accept and it may be they win on this one. this is one area where the house language prevails because if they insist on it, a lot of these house democratic members are simply not going to change. >> woodruff: all right tnaftali bendavid, from "the wall street journal." thanks very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff:

. >> pennsylvania senator bob casey said he will continue to negotiate with nebraska democrat ben nelson on abortion language for the senate health care bills. those remarks came during a news conference on the 2010 defense spending bill which the house passed on wednesday. this is about 35 minutes. >> good afternoon i'm delighted to be joined by senator stabenow and senator casey. we are in very difficult and challenging times for our economy after the failed policies of the bush administration. yesterday the house passed a 2010 defense appropriations bill. we are here to call for quick passage of this without delay. we could've passed a bill yesterday. we could've passed it today. we should pass it as quickly as possible. first and foremost, this bill provides the funding for our military forces across the globe and ensure they have the proper equipment, proper quality of life, to ensure that they continue to do their job as they face the threats better posed against the united states. but it also assists countless americans who are hit hardest by these difficult times. people love lov

ben nelson's and then to do so last week failed. his was mirrored after the amendment put into the house built by part -- bart stupak, pro-life from michigan what they're doing is having to bob casey, who probably has the some credibility with the pro-choice liberals and the caucus because bob casey himself as a liberal, trying to put a compromise language that harry reid would wrap into the amendment at the very end that would make ben helson -- ben nelson happy, and make bob casey happy but still not anger the pro-choice democrats and calls any of them to drop off the bill. then nelson told me yesterday that at least harry reid believed there was progress made, according to a conversation those two had appeared bob casey told me there is still work to do but he seemed optimistic. if i'm sort of going to judge his mood. host: first call on health care as the president says they are on the presses -- cressidas. victor. caller: i want you to know i'm behind president obama 100 percent. i need health care myself. i have a regular elem

>> the abortion language was the main sticking point with senator ben nelson from nebraska. senator reid met with senator nelson for a marathon session to work out compromise language. cinder nelson is a fairly adamant that that language does not change in conference. the language he worked out did not change. i know that the congressman has been talking on his side about pressing for the house language. it seems as though moving in that direction, it will lose the support of liberals that signed off on the language. it >> thank you for the update. have a happy holiday. >> thank you. >> the senate is on holiday break after passing that health care bill this morning. the vote was 60-39 along party lines. the only senator who did not vote was the kentucky senator. despite the holiday, negotiators will begin working by phone at next week on a compromise between the house and senate version of the health-care overhaul. >> christmas day, a look ahead at 2010 politics, including republican congressman and nbc david gregory. buzz aldrin and fellow astronauts on the legacy of apollo

>> the abortion language was the main sticking point with senator ben nelson from nebraska. senator reid met with senator nelson for a marathon session to work out compromise language. cinder nelson is a fairly adamant that that language does not change in conference. the language he worked out did not change. i know that the congressman has been talking on his side about pressing for the house language. it seems as though moving in that direction, it will lose the support of liberals that signed off on the language. it >> thank you for the update. have a happy holiday. >> thank you. >> the senate is on holiday break after passing that health care bill this morning. the vote was 60-39 along party lines. the only senator who did not vote was the kentucky senator. despite the holiday, negotiators will begin working by phone at next week on a compromise between the house and senate version of the health-care overhaul. >> christmas day, a look ahead at 2010 politics, including republican congressman and nbc david gregory. buzz aldrin and fellow astronauts on the legacy of apollo

one of the key members of the 60-foot coalition is senator ben nelson who was on yesterday on "state of the union." >> there are some who say that former governor, now senator nelson perhaps enjoy is this a bit too much. some of your liberal colleagues did you love the spotlight, love being able to be the guy with leverage? >> i don't think that is accurate at all. i could not create the opportunity to be the 6oth vote. it happened. i would say, if you think it is fun having both sides on an issue matt you when your turn to do something in good faith, just think -- it is like going on and being a bit by the family dog. [laughter] host: your thoughts on the senate health debate. passing in the wee hours the mining a good morning, houston, dustin come on the independent line -- dustin, on the independent line. caller: sorry. i was not expecting to get through. the question i was having was, the entire way that you will be -- how will work? will be like car insurance? how will then know that you do not have it? the entire thing really interests me. when you go to get your driver's licen

when you have different deals like with ben nelson, i do not think it is fair because you have a federal law that is not uniform. i think ultimately you are going to have people with health problems because they are basically going to go to nebraska because they know they can go there because ben nelson has paid-for deals. i think somebody is going to challenge this in court. i think it should be deemed unconstitutional because the law is not uniform from state to state. host: thank you. kate hunter? guest: senator kay bailey hutchison made this point that we will see later today that the bill is unconstitutional for essentially the reason that the caller said because the bill treats states differently. therefore, she's making the case that it violates the equal protection caused -- equal protection clause under the constitution. that nebraska will be treated one way with medicaid expansion, and another state a different way, that that runs afoul of the people protection clause. there is likely to be five votes on these types of orders, potentially all of them raising constitutional issu

regards to language about abortion and the bill. >> that was the main sticking point for senator ben nelsonrk out compromise language. i spoke with senator nelson, and he is adamant that that language does not change in conference. the language she worked out would not change. i know that congressman's department has been talking on his side about pressing -- congresssman stupak has been talking about moving in the house direction. they could lose the support of liberals who signed off [captioning performed by çnathónal cappjájjr'stitute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] v:t(ç>>ç coming up next onúc$r interview with gary cheek about the woundedçç warrior program kowhich assists the disabled veterans. çlater,w3 the ceo of the sesame street workshop. qçxdçc-span, christmas day. a look aheadxd to 2010 politics, including eric cantor and nbc's david gregory. the legacy of apollo 11. the discussion of the role of muslims around the world. and a former u.s. intelligence officerç on the strategy in afghanistan. remembering the lives of william f. buckley and senato

. >> president barack obama spoke with reporters at the white house not long before senator ben nelsonth care legislation.ç the president's remarks are about five minutes. >> hello. good afternoon everybody, you know that i am from chicago, so let me first say that when the place i left is covered with snow, i finally feel like home. i am sorry to drag you out in this weather, but i want to speak briefly about the significant progress we have made on two challenges facing the american people. the health care and our dependence on fossil fuels. with health care it now appears that the people will have the vote that secures for them to have health care insurance and affordable options for those who do not. i want to thank senator reid and every senator that has been working around the clock that made this happen. there is still work to be done, but today is a major step forward for the american people. after a nearly century long struggle, we are on the cusp of making health care reform a reality in america. as a legislation being a part of the process, but may i add that landmark amend

senator ben nelson is a pro-life democrat. he has said he favors the stupak language and he said today that he will be offering an amendment in association with some other senators that closely mirrors if not identically mirrors the stupak language. so we're likely to see a similar abortion debate in the senate as we saw in the house. the open question is whether or not nelson can get 60 votes in a senate where there don't appear to be 60, quote-unquote, pro-life senators. >> what's happening behind the scenes, landrieu, carper and schumer are working on something. >> they are trying to work out deals on a range of things. the public option on affordibility. senator carper of delaware is so far one of the lynch pins on trying to find a compromise on the public option. we've been hearing a lot about it and, of course, the democratic caucus agreed to let this bill get on the senate floor but several of those moderate or conservative documents like nelson or landrieu said they won't support the bill coming off the floor if the pu

. >> what did democratic leadership have to do to get ben nelson on board in the end? they had to accede to his demands and offer a couple of deals as part of the legislation. there is compromise, abortion language in the bill. that will make it a little bit harder for women who want to use insurance with federal funds to pay for abortions. it would make it hard for them to do that. also the state of nebraska will never have to pay for the expansion of medicaid that is called for in the healthcare reform bill. of course, medicaid is a program that provides healthcare to the poor that's jointly funded by states and the federal government. for nebraska it will not be jointly funded by the states. it will only be paid for by washington. and there are a few other things in there that nelson wanted that he got. >> is there -- is it still on schedule or any chance of that schedule which now looks like a christmas eve vote on final passage on this legislation? any chance that schedule will be shortened? >> no, the only way the schedule will be shortened if the republicans, yo

senate in terms of language. >> the abortion language was the main sticking point with senator ben nelson, a centrist democrat from nebraska. majority leader reid met with senator nelson for a marathon session for two days at the end of last week to work out compromise language. he was fairly adamant that that language you worked out would not change. i know that congressman stupak has been talking on his side about pressing for the house press language, but it seems as though moving in that direction could lose support of liberals over here who tentatively and bridgton lee signed off on the deal that the senator reid and senator nas and worked out. >> thanks for the update and have a happy holiday. >> thank you, you too. >> the senate has finished a decision for the year, passing by 60-39. all democrats voting in favor, all republicans against, the only senator not voting was senator jim bombing of kentucky. -- jim bunning of kentucky. >> the discussion on the role of muslims and know america and the world and later, a former cia intelligence officer on the u.s. strategy in al qaeda -- o

that the price is right, that they were willing to give autopsy lot n particular, you saw with ben nelson, getting a lot for his state for the state of nebraska so that they could get the 60 democrats to line up on this. >> and the white house saying that, listen -- >> good evening, john. you make up an interesting point there. because i remember one of the earlier criticisms that stuck for a long time was that as a candidate, barack obama said that we'll have every meeting opened. people will be able to watch everything that we do and that simply has not been the case. >> they say it's been a lot of transparency. everything that has played out in all of the deal making, if you will, that has been going on, there's been a lot of transparency and they say that, listen, this is what happened, whether it's republicans or democrats, this is what takes place, the american people getting ready to see how the sausage is being made here and some lawmakers will get specific things for their states in order to get their vote. tlashs a lot of criticism when the president talked about what was taking

services committee hearing, talking about the wounded warrior program, and was chaired by senator ben nelson, democrat of nebraska, and features several wounded warriors and their spouses. if you want to find out more about the program, you can tune in this evening at 11:00 hour for the reair of the senate armed services committee hearing. back to the phones. rhode island, on the line for republicans. caller: to the general, thank you very much for your service. thank everyone who is in uniform or past uniforms. really appreciate it. i'm a vietnam veteran of three years. it's just ironic that the news conference that the president just had, someone in the audience yelled out, "what about the troops?" he had to be reminded. as far as i'm concerned, that sucks. thank you. guest: one of the things i would say -- let me express my gratitude to the vietnam veterans. the treatment they receive, which is much different from what we have today, is attributable to them. they stepped up and told us that we will not allow this to happen again to this generation of warriors. we are very, very appreciati

i'm calling as a person who is outraged at the deal that ben nelson took.ed the governor's office there and he's actually opposed to money coming into nebraska like that. not to mention that they also have another sweetheart deal for them, that cut for the rest of the american people in february of 2010, that nebraska gets an extension until august of 2010, tell me how that's fair when it comes to physicians hospitals. and also in regard to -- i keep hearing about the children are going to benefit right away from the no longer being able to be -- not have health care coverage because of pre-existing condition. what do we do in regard to schip? me and my husband, we are responsible parents. we take care of our children. i love the way the government this nilts people, you go out, have these children, and the government's going to take care of it. then when you look at those who make between $40,000 and $100,000 we are going to be whopped so bad when it comes to our coverage we are not going to be able to afford it. you tell me how that's fair, carol, down in

is senator ben nelson ready to block the bill because he didn't get his way on abortion?ll talk to him tonight. >>> and sarah palin weighing in on climate change. larry, you were talking about her. we will talk about the controversy over polar bears. palin says they shouldn't be on the endangered list. we will take you to the arctic ice where scientists are getting close to polar bers to track their habitat. that and more stories on "360," larry. >> larry: there's a great polar bear joke -- >> larry: earlier today the house homeland security committee voted to subpoena the white house gate crashers tarik and michaela salahi, i'm tired of this story. the couple has been the target of plenty of late night punch lines. here's letterman. >> how about the kids, the couple that sneaked into the white house for the big state dinner? remember those guys? the salahis, the guy and his wife, good-looking couple. now, they are going to be subpoenaed by the house homeland security committee. and i thought, well, finally, they are being invited somewhere. hey, look, honey. look what we

regards to language about abortion and the bill. >> that was the main sticking point for senator ben nelson from nebraska. there were marathon sessions for two days last week to work out compromise language. i spoke with senator nelson, and he is adamant that that language does not change in conference. the language she worked out would not change. i know that congressman's department has been talking on his side about pressing -- congresssman stupak has been talking about moving in the house direction. they could lose the support of liberals who signed off on senator nelson's language. >> thank you for the update and have a happy holiday. >> thank you. you, too. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> coming up next, a report by the center for american progress on women and the work force. that is followed by the senate vote on health care with reaction from president obama. later, in an interview about the army's wounded warrior program that assists disabled veterans. this week on "newsmakers" our guest is the dir

they don't have the 60 votes i don't know who it would be they have only been negotiating with ben nelson from nebraska and he says he is for the bill. >>host: they have been added since 1:00 in the afternoon and it is coming upon a midnight. how would you describe the mood? k-mart . >> caller: republicans are realizing it is coming to a close if they cannot stop the bill. democrats are pretty enthusiastic about the outcome. >>host: one of the story lines has to do with the statement from the senator coburn who was followed by senator durbin. we do have short pieces but what is the issue? >> senator coburn is a straight talk gain, the dazed and get the little emotional about this issue. he was on the floor this afternoon and it was sort of the acknowledging that republicans can do much now to stop the bill from passing out of the senate. >>host: we have mr. cockburn and mr. durban from earlier today. here is a look. >> it is not about being bipartisan but you can take-it-or-leave-it. the american parade that somebody can not make the vote tonight. so that we can actually get the metal, an

senator ben nelson of nebraska and senator orrin hatch of utah.y've introduced the amendment, they hope it's going to pass, but i think i can pretty confidently say it's not going to pass. >> what would senator knell szob's abortion -- nelson's abortion amendment do? >> it would restrict abortion coverage by insurers who operate in these new exchanges the bill would create across the nation. it would also forbid the government-run insurance plan from covering abortions altogether, the only ones would be related to rape, incest or where the pregnant si threatens the mother's life. >> what took so long? >> yeah. senator nelson and democratic leaders wanted to get rid of it last week. i shouldn't say senator nelson wanted to get rid of it, but democratic senators did want to get rid of it. senator hatch on jekylled to that -- objected to that, so now it's ready to go. >> can you name democrats who have indicated they may vote for this amendment? >> there's two of them, i believe. senator nelson and senator bob casey. i think possibly byron dorgan, ma

lehrer: senator ben nelson says he has newed reservations in that bill because othe abortion iss. he's one of the you're countingn. what do u think about that? >> loo there are many issues that have been rsed by him and many others. we'll work our way through tse issues. again, i'm condent we'll get this done in in a wathat will hold theoalition together. >> lehrer: what you make this rising oppotion among liberal decrats, particularly led by former democrathairman howard dn? >> look, i think that lot of people hava great deal of passion about the issu i have a great deal of psion about it mysf. i have someone in my familwith a chronic illns and i've had manyf the horrific experiences th insurance that other americans are have had and i feel strongly about this and so does the prident. so, you knowpeople are impaioned and there are some disagreements abt aspects of thislan. but there absolutely no doubt that the refms that we're working on will be infinely tter than the situation that we face today. people will be ae to get insurance th they can afford even if they don't g it thro

ben nelson of nebraska is supporting the bill, giving them enough votes against the republicans trying to block it. >>> some travelers bedding down for the night in the last place they want to be. an airport. many flights have been canceled around washington, d.c. some airports closed until tomorrow morning. karen mcginnis, watching this in the weather center. >> we have been watching this in new york city. in the past 45 minutes i have watched this snow come down at a terrific rate. it picked up rather dramatically since about 4:00 p.m. light snow flurries. you can see how heavy it is. quite a tremendous snowfall rate. the traffic has staperred off. new york city is expecting between ten and 15 inches of snowfall as this classic nor'easter moves up the coast. from the mid atlantic where it has shut down quite a few interstates. in virginia alone they have reported more than 4,000 traffic accidents. this area of low pressure treks towards the northeast. from philadelphia to boston, between ten and 24 inches of snowfall. the nation's capital will rival the snowstorm of 1922, the knicker

ben nelson doesn't think that strict enough, he wants to forbid the public auction from covering a lack of abortion and he wants to prevent a public insurance plans and that receive subsidies from the government from covering abortion also. >> you mentioned the senators will be in tomorrow and probably on sunday. will we get a sense of the republican strategy at any point this week in? >> i think the republican strategy is fairly clear in a broad sweep try to slow this down to a crawl and they want to keep hammering this point that in this bill would reduce medicare spending over the next decade and republicans say that's going to cut benefits -- lead to cuts in medicare benefits so basically they are trying to increase the concern of seniors who might already be a little suspicious of this bill. >> do you have a sense of what's going beyond the scenes as majority leader is working to get this past? what kind of discussions is he having? >> right now they're having a meeting in his office tonight as we talkç here. i believe the folks we counted going into that room included senator nel

senator ben nelson is apparently working on an amendment. what is that about? >> representative stupak of michigan succeeded in getting language into the bill tightening up restrictions on how abortion could be funded on the exchange, the national insurance exchange, envisioned under the bill. many of these plans will be private, these are not public plans, but the stupak amendment, as it's called here on the hill, restrict house abortion can be funded if you have insurance on that exchange, even with your own money. senator ben nelson is a pro-life democrat he favors the stupak language and he'll be offering an amendment in association with other senators that mirrors closely, if not identically, the stupak amendment. we're likely to see the abortion debate in the senate that we saw in the house. the question is whether he can get 60 votes in the senate where they don't appear to be 60 quote-unquote pro life senators. >> senators landrieux, carter and schumer are working on something, right? >> they're working on a range of thing, the public option, affordabil

negotiations took place at this podiunm, sometimes individually, and ben nelson was like the rest of them. we worked for many, many weeks, as we did with other senators. so we have, as you look through the bill, you will see different interests in the merged manager's package. >> [inaudible] >>the doctor's fix was done because doctors felt that was the best way to move forward. we feel it should be permanent. they are entitled to more than one, and that is why we support the legislation. we will work on it as soon as we hear back for the holiday. >> the reality is that that is one state that gets 100% health for medicaid. >> i will sasy this. you will find in the bill that a number of states are treated differently from other states. it is compromise. we work to get a number of votes, including efforts for republican votes. a lot of times, you think something was done and that is how they got the vote. most of the time, that is not true. senator nelson, that is a minor part of the issues. we started working on that weeks and weeks ago, that provision. >> do you have 60 commitments no

but that will take 60 votes and nebraska democrat ben nelson was still holding out for tighter restrictionson abortion funding. he said today there's been some progress in talks with party leaders. wall street finished the week on an upbeat note after a 3-day slide the dow jones industrial average gained more than 20 points to close above 10328. the nasdaq rose more than 31 points to close at 2211. for the week the dow lost 1%. the nasdaq rose 1%. there was word today that afghan president hamid karzai will retain most of his top ministers in a new cabinet. wire services say they include the ministers of defense, interior and finance. several other ministers accused of corruption are being dismissed. the reports said karzai plans to keep former warlord ismail khan in the cabinet. human rights groups have accused him of war crimes. the cabinet is due to be announced on saturday. the infamous sign at the entrance to the nazi death camp at auschwitz has been stolen. police in poland said today it disappeared sometime in the wee hours this morning. the iron sign was erected soon after the nazi'

you will hear host with mitch mcconnell, and joseph lieberman, with ben nelson from nebraska. will hear democratic senator warren, you can listen to all five sunday morning talk shows at c-span radio, 91.5, and on the web at c-span.org. and you can follow us on facebook and twitter. >> michael < ççfauntroy is u!ç guest fáçóqçtp?hw3tonight on ' a."w3 >> monday çççnights ççon c u! host: later this oo3week "time" magazine will continue with their person of the year. we will to see who the magazine should select.ç the çnumbers to call are on yo screen.xdç we welcome our listeners on c-span radio and on w3çmyw3su' 130. the magazine will announce its selection in a çseries of interviews, beginning on we@gesday, and "time magazine" is out on thursday so in advance of that, the decision has been made. but who do you think should be the important of year? you can send in your twitter comment at twitter.com/cspanwj or an e-mail to the journalc-span.org. host: who do you think that they select? caller: sarah palin. host: why? caller: she's made support of transferring into s

ben nelson over the sensitive issue of abortion.e goes on to say nelson emerged from reid's office friday night wráhout a deal saying he needed to review a new propose toll ensure no federal funding could be used to pay for elective abortions. this is a discussion on-going. there's a lu of different moving parts. san diego, california on the line for democrats. go ahead. caller: how you doing? host: what do you think about the proposal and what it'j going to accomplish? caller: well i would like to say most of the american public is educated through propaganda and why do i say that? we have people that are incarcerated at guantanamo yet we don't know who these people are or what they've done. everyone assumes because of the immediate dwlat these people are so-called terrorists, and i'm not going to comment on the they should be tried in america but i don't understand the whole situation when people are incarcerated with no due process regardless of where they're from. people just continue to assume that these people are terrorists.

>> two interesting editorials from the home states of ben nelson who has we know the 11th hour had aompromise sending more money to his home state of nebraska. the newspaper, lincoln journal star this week. editorial says nonetheless that deal was the embody meant of what is wrong with washington. instead of thoughtful careful work they cobble together deals. the lincoln journal star says nelson ought to use opportunities to force washington to start over on healthcare reform. nebraska might have a sweeter deal but congress needs to be doing better the overall good of the country. the couno the majority leader it's home state senator harry reed. amazing fete. he runs a incredible course to run it towards pass sage. his hometown said reid should be commended. the easy thing would be to shelf the reform and prepare for the 2010 exl. instead he took on special interest and pulled together with diverse beliefs and sound the middle ground. as a result. long over due legislation that helps america is that much closer to passing. that's real leadership says the last ve gas sun. next los ang

afternoon, president obama spoke with reporters at the white house, not long after they provided ben nelsoneciding vote on health care legislation. he also talked about global climate change. this is about five minutes. >> good afternoon, everybody. you know that i am from chicago, so let me first say that with the place where i live on finally covered with snow, i am starting to feel at home. i am sorry to drag you guys out in this weather, but i want to speak briefly to you about the significant progress we have made on the two major challenges facing the american people, the crushing cost of health care and are dangerous dependency on fossil fuels. when health care, with today's developments, it appears the american people have the votes they deserve on genuine reform that offer security to those who have health insurance and affordable options for those who did not predict -- who don't. there is still much work to be done with not a lot of time left to do it, but today is a major step forward for the american people. after nearly a century long struggle, we are on the cusp of making hea