senator chuck grassley is involved in the negotiations. over the weekend he used twitter to make his sentiments known to the president. he is a top republican in the senate finance committee. he said obama had the nerve to call for prompt action while sightseeing in paris. iowa is next on our independent line. caller: to the last caller -- where can all those people go? will we had a single-payer system we would not be having that discussion. is a shame that mr. obama has not even allowed that to be discussed. -- it is a shame. i understand from the meeting last week it was supposed to be discussed. back in 2003 obama said he was a proponent of single-payer and it was the only way to go, but that we had a long road to get there. he said first we needed to take back the white house and in congress. guess what? we have all those things, yet we're not even talking about it is too big to do with and people will not stand up to the establishment. the status quo will stay the same until you get a new third party. i encourage people to call in an

also writing in "bill" today is a key republican player, chuck grassley, r he voices concerns. -- thiss in "the hill" newspaper to do. he says there's no shortage of ideas, but most fall short of revenue to pay for them. some favor universal coverage financed entirely by the taxpaying public. i caution those who favor driving 120 million more americans into a taxpayer- financed insurance system that the federal government is an unfair competitor and would likely run the private sector of business. let's take the first call from the republican line in indiana. caller: i appreciate it. my basic overview is that america cannot pay for everybody. it is difficult for politicians to turn around and say "no." i believe that if you go to a hospital for any need if you cannot pay for you should be turned away. we have to be responsible financially. we have to be responsible for our own actions. nobody should have to pay for anybody else's mishaps or inefficiencies. if you cannot make it, cannot provide for yourself, then you should not be given anything. if we did that -- people say that is cru

. >> last week i was speaking with finance democrats, they insisted that max baucus and chuck grassley, but i am wondering if they are grasping at straws. trying to grab for olympia snowe, maybe a couple of others. does not sound like to me you will pick up a bipartisan vote. >> you are exactly right. charles grassley has been given no authority to negotiate anything. he has said that while his staff has spoken to senator baucus, he is not negotiating with max baucus. we have not had a republican meeting to decide the republican position. it may reflect the fact that i know that our democratic friends know what a lot of us are thinking. host: you will be able to see the entire interview with senator jon kyl later on this morning after this program, at 10:00 a.m. on c-span. we are going to continue our discussion of spending by the obama administration, especially with regards to health and other areas right after this break. we will be right back. ♪ >> the government funding of direct aid to colleges and students is aid late 1960's thing that has grown rapidly since then. >> today, not

you know, maybe chuck grassley. i think he's very torn. i think he is working very hard with baucus right now. i just don't know if he can agree to what the majority of democrats in the house will demand. andt

very important senate finance committee where he's leading an effort with ranking member senator chuck grassley to get consensus on a comprehensive bipartisan healthcare reform bill in the coming weeks. as part of that effort senator baucus has been a passionate advocate for comparative effectiveness research done right sponsoring his own legislation with senator conrad during the last congressional session and including provisions to address appropriate cost on comparative research. and he finds time for ultra mare thanes which is pretty good preparation for what he's trying to do right now. we're glad to have you back at brookings for this keynote. [applause] >> thank you, mark, very much. and thank you very much for inviting me to your session today to talk about an issue i think of great transitive effect which is comparative research. cynthia nelms once said if men liked shopping, they'd call it research. [laughter] >> think about it. from cars to television when americans go shopping they are readily able to find and evaluate information about the quality and effectiveness of almost anyth