there is a picture of bertha greeting her nurse.her nurse is coming to check the medications she takes for chronic pain and heart failure and stroke. mrs. milliar says those visits have been effective in keeping her out of the hospital. but the home care that she receives could be altered according to the front page of "the new york times" under the legislation passed by the house and pending on the senate floor today. now, the legislation would reduce medicare spending on home health services, which is a lifeline for homebound medicare beneficiaries which keeps them out of hospitals and also out of nursing homes. so there you have it -- what could be better for our seniors than to have the dignity of being in our own home, someone coming into their home, and that will include physical care, occupational care, sometimes speech and language therapy, sometimes different medical services. that's where the care ought to be given, in the home. that's what we want for our seniors, dignity at home, to stay in surroundings. but we want that

i don't know the deal that was cut with them, but i know bertha mill yard -- milliard was not there when the deal was cut. >> the senator from montana. >> does the senator know the so-called deal was whereas mepac and the house wanted to make drastic cuts to health care that we went to the home health care industry, worked with them and took two of their major suggestions? so we mod -- modified, and the home health industry thought this was reasonable. does the senator know that was reached? >> i don't know what the deal was, but i know that the people who were in the home health care business that see $43 billion in cuts to their business, funding for their business, were not there when the lob yifts showed up. we heard the story when the majority of the people said, get on board, or when we go and shape the final parameters of this bill, we're going to hurt you. we know they have been threatened. >> i'm just wondering if that was the deal. we know there are a lot of deals around here. i know the senator from arizona pays a lot of attention to earmarks, and i know at some point we'll ge

acorn, i was on this with bertha lewis. she talked about the members of acorn. how do you get to be a member of acorn. i do not want to leave you, excessively, but if you come here for support, you will become a member? >> that is correct. when you do the counseling session, they would have an option where you could be part of the credit report or you could be a member of the acorn. this is about $110 per year. they were losing out on that but many people chose to sign up. they also have the provisional members. you could sign the card if you wanted to be contacted and they would contact you and you could become a full member. . n drive. they actually had an acorn membership card attached to the voter registration cards and they would use them to drive up their membership. >> so let's run back through. this the government and foundations and other groups contribute money to various acorn affiliates to do community work, to help the poor, to help the disadvantaged. and in the process of giving these briefings and so on on loan restructuring and other advice that

and she -- bertha lewis. she continually talked about the 400,000 members of acorn. would you run me through? how do you get to be a member of acorn? and i don't want to lead you excessively. but my understanding is that if you come to acorn for help you usually end up a member, isn't that true? >> that's correct. when they do their housing counseling sessions, they would have -- they used to have an option to where you could either pay $20 for a credit report or you could sign up to become a member of acorn. the membership dues equal about $110 per year. >> about 10 bucks a month, probably. >> they were losing out on that one. but a lot of people chose to sign up. they also had what they called provisional members. you would tacted by acorn. they would come back and contact you and sign up as a full member. this is a lot what they did during the voter registration drive. they actually had an acorn membership card attached to the voter registration cards and they would use them to drive up their membership. >> so let's run back through. this the government and founda

and she -- bertha lewis. she continually talked about the 400,000 members of acorn. would you run me through? how do you get to be a member of acorn? and i don't want to lead you excessively. but my understanding is that if you come to acorn for help you usually end up a member, isn't that true? >> that's correct. when they do their housing counseling sessions, they would have -- they used to have an option to where you could either pay $20 for a credit report or you could sign up to become a member of acorn. the membership dues equal about $110 per year. >> about 10 bucks a month, probably. >> they were losing out on that one. but a lot of people chose to sign up. they also had what they called provisional members. you would tacted by acorn. they would come back and contact you and sign up as a full member. this is a lot what they did during the voter registration drive. they actually had an acorn membership card attached to the voter registration cards and they would use them to drive up their membership. >> so let's run back through. this the government and founda