we'll talk with two senators central to the negotiations: republican chuck grassley of iowa and democrathuck schumer of new york. but first admiral mike mullen on "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs "face the nation" with cbs news chief washington correspondent bob schieffer. ú and now from washington, don dickerson. >> welcome again to the broadcast. bob schieffer is off this morning. joining us now chairman of the joint chiefs of staff admiral mike mullen. thank you for being with us. i want to ask you first about afghanistan. there are new operations and they're testing the u.s. counterinsurgency strategy. can you give us a progress report. >> i'm comfortable with the strategy. we've had launched an operation earlier this week. the first significant one. what's most important is that i think we know how to do counterinsurgency. we've done that. this is very focused on providing security for the afghan people. but in the south, this is where the... we expect the toughest fighting. it's already started out to be pretty tough. we've made some advances early. but i suspect it w

ly is in the guy who -- chuck grassley is increasingly the guy who is going to blow up some of these ideas or the guy who may become the republican known for delivering the nation's ized health care. he's really in the middle, working hard, we don't is happening in negotiations. they have an extension of time because the president has said he will step back and wait to see what happens after the august recess. >> the president hauled in the cbo director, who was given that score brought him in with a [ inaudible ] >> i don't think it was subtle. it puts lbj to shame. what the republicans have to do now, kill this thing, as it is. so that opens up the space for other alternatives. otherwise they are going to be providing a bipartisan gloss on what is really a terrible -- >> republicans can kill it. democrats have to kill it. every republican voted against this, it could still pass. >> when democrats go home they will hear loud and clear that people don't want to give up the plans they have now for the rig s of managed care. they rejected it in the -- rigors of

on the senate finance committee, is giving away the store -- ranging member chuck grassley. i make light of the sausage making, but it is how it is turned out. martha: one of the main sausage makers may be rahm emanuel. is he to thank for the last- minute wrangling? >> i am sure he did some arm- twisting. there was a lot of negotiations. rural hospitals are getting a lot more attention to it that is a big thing for blue dog democrats. you have the cost of the bill going down $100 billion. you have small businesses with a payroll of a half a million dollars or less exempted from the mandate. you have the things the blue dogs would fight for. the white house chief of staff rahm emanuel fought to bring in a lot of these blue dog democrats, recruited them, for the moderate districts. he is responsible for the number of blue dogs in the house. he is probably responsible for a twisted some arms. martha: i do not know how he will come up with anything to talk about tonight. it is one busy town. thank you r. rick: senate finance committee is crafting a plan that relies on nonprofit

we have four republican senators led by chuck grassley. you have three democrats led by max baucus, who is chairman of the finance committee. what is the fight over? it seems to me they've got to jettison some of this stuff so it's light enough to carry for both parties. >> two things, two key things, how to pay for it. what are you going to do? this surcharge tax idea coming out of the house, grassley himself said it's dead, and if grassley says it's dead, baucus usually goes along. the two of them are like blood brothers in this on the way they run the finance committee. they both sort of take the long view because as one of them is the ranking member now, the other one is the chairman. they know those roles can get reversed quickly, so they very much listen to each other on that. so that millionaire surtax or whatever you want to call it at this point is probably dead. but they have to find a way to fund it that isn't this taxing health care benefits because the president drew a line on that, which is something baucus has expressed frus

coming up, the finance committee's ranking republican, senator chuck grassley on his efforts to spark a compromise. and democratic senator, tom harkin, a veteran member of the health committee. >>> also this hour, president obama holds a town hall meeting at aarp headquarters. 100,000 members are expected to dial in their health care questions for the president. >>> and good day. i'm andrea mitchell, live in new york today. supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor has won the approval of the senate judiciary committee by a vote of 13-6. nbc's justice correspondent, pete williams, joins me now from washington. pete, no real surprise there is, except for the fact that only one republican joined her. >> right, we thought orrin hatch might, but he announced late last week that he would vote against her, largely because we think of her position on -- or his concern about her position on abortion and gun rights. but lindsey graham was the only republican who voted for and his comments were quite interesting, andrea, because he said that he was convinced that her statements and her decisions di

think sonya sotomayor is walking in after having her own lunch break and getting ready to face chuck grassley and the other senators very shortly. senator grassley is going to be interesting because of that and because of the fact that he is potentially one of the republicans that the democrats think they might be able to pull over to their side to vote for her, first of all, because he has a his stoi of, sort of voting both ways and politically because he is from the very blue state of iowa. his tone and tenor will be very interesting to listen to. the rest of the republicans, particularly on this issue we have been talking about, about whether or not she will use her experience, as she has said before, o are at least suggested before, in terms of how she approaches issues from the bench. here, she made what republicans are calling a confirmation conversion. when she gets questioning from not just republicans like chuck grassley by also lindsey graham, another republican who might go her way, i don't think it is over. >> on that sensitiveish yoo you of being a wise latino women and she would

bret: not many people have that phrase starting a sentence, chuck grassley will be fun. >> hold on, hold on. i will plead guilty to being a want, ok. we all did schoolhouse rock 6. but charles grassley will be tough and interesting, and afterwards, you will say carl was right. bret: what about your assessment of judge sotomayor's composure or temperament in the back and forth, especially with he did questioning from sessions and others? >> i the nipple on familiar with her frown. she does have -- i think we have got familiar with her frown. she does have a smile, but she has a not quite scalp, but an expression that was a frown. she has held her tongue and not interrupted senators, which is a big no-note here. you do not do is interrupt. she has gotten high marks. fact, i talked to a number of republicans, the john corning, or in hatch, lindsey gramm and jeff sessions all told me that they are not thrilled with the way things are in terms of the fact based but they have given her props, real credit for holding her tongue and showing a temperament that most people would want in a judge. t

i also spoke with senator chuck grassley and i really questioned him to find out are you going to vote for her. when it comes to senator grassley, i asked him, could you vote for him. he's listening to his constituents who are pretty much against her, but he said he's never voted against a president's choice for supreme court. he said he voted for eight of the nine currently sitting judges. for him to vote against her would be a change. grassley is a possibility. john john cornyn who would probably be an unlikely vote against her today said he found her judicial record pretty much in the mainstream. so i think that's significant. >> that is really significant. we're just getting information that senator pat leahy, chairman of the committee, said he will set a date. we'll find out pretty soon who are some of those republicans who step forward and say yes. we're going to see one of the new haven firefighters, frank ricci, whose name has been bandied about quite a bit. is this going to be explosive or is it much ado about nothing? >> i don't know if it's going to be explosive. but it will

maybe he says mike enzi or chuck grassley say well, that's the one thing i can't do. >> what he's going to do is for one thing satisfy the blue dog democrats by saying he's in favor of this outside commission, sort of like a base closing commission, but not really which will bring down costs. >> why is a republican in better shape by saying i'm a republican, i'm a fiscal conservative, but unless we have health care for everybody this society is not going to hold together. >> the thing is republican leaders in the congress have been getting out there on the floor of their respective chambers saying that in theory. they say we all are -- but they're not putting out -- >> that's like saying ronald reagan was for something like medicare, but he wasn't. he was for the ama version, which is not medicare. >> i know. >> thank you. up next, president obama will speak tonight at 8:00 in less than 20 minutes, in fact, trying to sell what has to be sold if he's going to have his big first year. and if a lot of people are going to have health care. this is "hardball" on msnbc. concierge claim center

and it's not chuck grassley saying that.emember that the director of the congressional budget office, which is an independent agency, they said that neither the house bill nor senator kennedy's bill was going to do that. and if we don't do that, we're just making things worse, not better. that's why senator baucus and i are committed to that part of it, very strenuously. >> chuck grassley with new bottom lines from the senate finance committee, thank you very much. and thanks for your patience in waiting for us. >>> and from unrest in iran to north korea's missile threats and the wars in iraq and afghanistan, stalemates still in the middle east. president obama has already faced an array of foreign policy challenges, just six months into his presidency. so with that six-month mark, michael o'hanlon joins us now. let's talk first about the ayatollah in iran today, pushing back very hard, so the leaders in iran pushing back hard against rafsanjani and the other protesters from the friday prayers. . >> hi, andrea. i think we ha

he has said he is troubled by some of her remarks as well, chuck grassley opposed judge sotomayor in 1998 when she was up for the appeals court why do they think it is possible to perhaps get senator grassley's vote, they think because of this he was re-elected with 70% in 2004 but his seat is up in 2010. barack obama carried it handily, trending to be a more democratic state. they think -- iowa, excuse me. they think there is a possibility senator grassley might find some pressure at home to support this nominee, so they believe they might be able to get grassley, might be able to get graham and think they are likely to get senator hatch, unless something happens there. our peter hamm talked to senator hatch during one of the last breaks and said are you going to vote for her? he said he didn't say that he thought she anticipated some of the questions well, others not so well. the hearings will continue. again, the democrats don't need any republican votes but think it would send a big signal to the full senate, wolf if they could get two or three and those are the ones they think ar

we'll talk to the ranking member of the finance committee, senator chuck grassley, our special guest"bo floyd "moneh so i've co tthis ring to see who'saster... on t internet. i'll be using e 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won. so i c browse the web faster, email business planfaster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis and i'm faer than floyd mayweather. (announcer) switch to the nation fastest 3g network and get the at&t laopconnect card for free. thsame tools the pros use, you can be a disciplined trader. by selecting from eightadv, your order gets exut, even when you'reusy. d withrailing stops to help yo lo in profits and minimizeisk, you can be confident in your stragy, no matter which way the market mes. find out why more and more acti trade are tug to fidelity for a arter way to trade online. trade like a pro. trade with fidelity. >>> welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc, first in business worldwide. we are one hour away from the opening bell. checking the futures, they're now positive. find out -- find out whether some of our comments from our esteemed guest host is getting som

certainly, chuck grassley, the lead republican in the senate finance committee is in favor of all sorts of the obama plan elements, but just not all of it. and there are others, ron wyden, democrat on the finance committee has a bill that no one's paying any attention to that does have real bipartisan support. but there isn't something that republicans are rallying around, saying this is our alternative. and they are now in a tactical position, where they don't really need one, because the obama plan is on a curve downward in popularity in the polls. everyone's noticing that in both parties. and so the republicans really can stand back and watch obama, in effect, campaign for health care against himself. that's what happened to hillary clinton last time around. what happened was, hillary clinton was unable in her campaign to sell the plan to the public. she was unable to do that. and the more she tried, the more the popularity of her plan went down. so we've seen this before. >> and on that point of resistance also coming from democrats. as we mentioned, "the washington post" reports th

the fact that chuck grassley is still in the room, that is a big trump card max baucus has. his is the only plan left that seems to have republicans still negotiating. >> before i let you go, chuck, we shouldn't overlook the fact that the president did just win one. he and bob gates, his defense secretary, just won the cancellation of the f-22, despite all of the vested interests and despite unemployment in areas, they pushed back against the narrative that this would increase unemployment in those districts and they had an interesting vote. senator robert byrd voting for the first time out of the hospital, showed up on the floor. one more democrat. he, of course, voted against the president, i should point out. >> of course. he would never vote against pork. >> former chairman of the senate appropriations, the committee. >> the president had one ally that i don't think the ally he realized he was, and that was john murtha. i think all of the controversy surrounding john murtha and defense contracts in general i think helped galvanize and make it a little bit easier to find

. >> senator chuck grassley from iowa is the ranking member of the senate finae committee. do you trust that senator grassley will be able to negotiate something that you will be able to sign onto? >> i'm not at all sure. chuck's had a hard time and mike enzi who is also a member of the finance committee has been involved in those conversations as well. we've talked about this a lot. he brings back reports of very difficult divisions. part of it is the cbo scores. the congressional budget office is required to tell us how much the director thinks it's goi to cost so we can try to find ways to pay for it or to reduce expenses in some other areas so that we come out net without having any increase in costs. it turns out that the congressional budget office in scoring these different proposals has scored very little savings and huge costs. so that we'll have a deficit under either the house bill or the senate bill anywhere from $240 billion to $600 billion. and they're having a hard time doing as much as they want to do and still not having that kind of budget deficit. >> what

. >> i was somewhat surprised with orrin hatch and chuck grassley, because they had this record, voted for every supreme court nominee prior. i think what she shows more than anything else is how partisan things are now in washington. i know president obama has built a lot of his reputation on bipartisanship. it seems clear to me, look at economic stimulus, look at cap and trade, look at this vote, you're looking at lots of party line votes on big issues that are going to be issues, maybe not sotomayor, but health care and -- >> will they pay a price with hispanic voters out in the west, especially people out west that we mentioned? >> you know, if you look at 2008, they didn't have all that far to go down to be honest, chris. they were already losing badly. they have to find a way back. i'm not sure voting for sonia sotomayor would have been republicans' path back to winning the hispanic vote. but they've got to start somewhere. >> i think what is sending a message right now, especially after confirmation hearings, increase of the immigration policy. latinos are looking for a party. i

>> it might be max baucus and it might be chuck grassley.ome way, some improbable way at this point they can get chuck grassley, the gentleman farmer they call him, a republican from iowa, their counterpart, the republican counterpart to bob cuss on the finance committee writing this thing, if they can somehow get him on board, that is going to provide a lot of cover and go a long way toward getting ultimate success for the president here in congress. >> congressional correspondent mike have i kara, thank you very much. it is important to note other players because so much attention is on the president. we look at how popular he is, less than popular some of the policy is. these other key players and you saw max baucus on a flight. >> yeah, and tamron, these are all the cream of the crop in terms of the political success. these are the chairmen of the committees, the people around for a long time. they've got their own agendas and all want to be listened to and dealing again with the biggest political issue in years, and so it's very tricky

a lot ofhe states -- i happen to look a at iowa bause of chuck grassley. 70% of that market is just one single insurer. there's veryryittle mpetition ou the. give people a pububliclan thats going to incrcrease insurance. this is notcompetitive free markrk. this is a collelection carte have t tthere. >>>>ome onomis have floated the ea of taxing employer-provideded heal benets, something that wouou have a huguge impact o on middd class s americans. w do you feel about that?t? >> y you don'ttwant to tax the whole thing. no waway. there's s actually -- r rht nowe have a systetemwhere at ployerax break for providing e benefits isishe only thing that h holds most off our syste togeth. butome tax onn plans inin exces of some very high mber, that'ss okay. probabably, in one way oranothe, we'll be gradually shifting toward the s system where there is -- thisis moree of a benefef that's provided for eveverybody, rather than sometng whereome ople get gold platedlans and some people getnothing.. that's okay. i don't -- the detailsmatter enormoly. >> healalth ce expxpense is reay the biggestst issue

go ahead. >> i was going to say, i agree with chuck grassley that we should review her whole record, but here is a woman who has been involved in 3,000 cases. she's had more extensive records both as a trial judge and a court of appeals judge than any nominee, democrat or republican, for over 50 years. that's where her record is, and all that's been available to every single senator to read. so far, those 3,000 cases, i think she's only been asked about a dozen or so, and over and over and over again. i've read the cases. i've listened to her answers in those dozen or so cases she's been questioned about. as a lawyer, i have a pretty easy job making up my mind. >> can i add to what he said? >> lehrer: yes, sir. >> just in case i left an impression of her qualifications to be on the supreme court, the academic ones for her career on the court for over a decade, her being a prosecutor and a private-sector lawyer, i don't think anybody's raised any questions about her qualifications. there's been distraction from her legal jurisprudence by speeches she's given that have raised some conc

senator chuck grassley, "the wall street journal," says the republican from iowa could be the key totisan health care deal. nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell will join us. plus, a look at the stories politico is working on. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. >> and mike allen, brewed by crystal meth. >> well, he has that going in his office. undefeated professional boxer floyd "money" mayweather has the fastest hands boxing has ever seen. so i've come to this ring to see who's faster... on the internet. i'll be using the 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won't. so i can browse the web faster, email business plans faster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis and i'm faster than floyd mayweather. (announcer) switch to the nation's fastest 3g network and get the at&t laptopconnect card for free. rrd d ou (announcer) switch to the nation's fastest 3g network naing onon ud r. weotototatatininci on us cars for everybody anont cfidedence ininin o. caususususlendnds s ve a a a t tcks. ququq n . >>> he rarely makes a false move. he rarely does. in the past few day

. >> orrin hatch is another and chuck grassley. they might in the end vote for her confirmation. let's bring in some of our analysts and reporters to assess what else to expect. gloria borger, john king, former clinton white house official bill bennett, candy crowley is here as is jeff toobin. gloria, when we look at today specifically, the republicans who are going to be asking questions starting with kyl. later lindsey graham, cornyn, coburn, so far, they haven't scored a lot of points in undermining her credibility. >> they haven't. she's done very well in not answering directly. but what they're trying to do is now is draw the lines in the sand about what's acceptable and not acceptable for them as republicans. this is a president who's probably going to have other supreme court nominations. as dana just said issues like gun control, land rights, abortion. also on this big question of empathy. the president said he wants a judge with empathy and in their questioning, these senators sort of forced her to say empathy is not a basis upon which you judge. that's putting the presi

you that last night, off camera, a couple of the republican negotiators in that gang of six, chuck grassley of iowa and mike enzie of wyoming, saying they thought it wouldn't happen, there would be an agreement before the senate leaves for its break. that said, senator grassley told cnn this morning on american morning that a deal this week is certainly impossible, but he left open the possibility of maybe coming to some sort of agreement next week. here's what he said. >> well, there's no way we can get all of the compromising that needs to be done by an artificial deadline of friday of this week. so we're going to continue to work together this week and next week, but we're getting close. >> so grassley says there's still a lot of sticking points here, of course, how to pay for health care reform, and also, what exactly the senate finance committee, the committee that he is on, what their proposal for health care reform is going to look like, although, heidi, we do know it is going to have a non-profit cooperative. we've heard this from democratic and republican members. sort of like what

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. >> senator, chuck grassley from iowa is this ranking member the senate finance committee and do youtrust the senator will be able to negotiate something you will be able to sign onto? >> i'm not at all sure. and, chuck had a hard time and mike oh. nsie, a member of the health committee and finance committee, involved in those conversation as well and we talk about this a lot. he brings back reports frequently of very difficult divisions. and part of it is the cbo scores that you talked about earlier, again for folks watching, the congressional budget office, is required to tell us how much he -- the director thinks it will cost so that we can try to find ways to pay for it or reduce expenses in some other area so we come out net without having any increase in costs. it turns out, the congressional budget office, and score -- in scoring the proposals, has scored very little savings and huge costs, so we'll have a defendant under either the house bill or senate bill from $240 billion to $600 billion. and they are having a hard time doing as much as they wanted to do and still not havi

to say that republicans in the senate are not involved, my friend chuck grassley on the finance committee he spends more time in the white house than i do. the opportunity is there for anyone to jump in. i welcome anything that republicans want to do to improve this bill. >> smith: senator? >> let's be honest with it. the real problem here is that you've got senator baucus who is trying to put together a bill that would use the exclusion, in other words, would tax health care above a certain level. they're talking about $25,000 plans now and taxing above that. i'm shocked that there are $25,000 plans. they tell me there are in new york some of them even for teachers. well, the problem with that is that if you don't do that, then there's a gradual push-up all the time in cost so that you have cadillac plans over regular plans that really would work. >> smith: has the president done enough to she aerd this through? >> the president is working around the clock to do something. i don't want to be negative about the other party. but quite frankly they haven't presented anything to the senate,

republican senator chuck grassley also called for action over one year ago.their concerns. >> in the case of a hospital, there was accusations of patient dumping. congressman rice came to me. we visited about this. we are thinking in terms of legislation on the health-care reform bill that is coming before congress. >> last month, the urban health initiative held a forum to address such concerns, but all that came out of it was their desire to repair the relationship with the community. the medical center continues to insist that no one gets turned away for care. maybe that is because the southside port just think they will be shown the door. >> the initiative was developed in the hometown of the obama is -- the southside pouor just thik that they will be shown the door. >> the initiative was developed in the hometown of the obamas. >> we are going to pass health care reform, not 10 years from now, not five years from now. we are going to pass it this year. sean: joining us is our fox news correspondent, our own ainsley earhardt. a great report. so, basically

. >> senator chuck grassley is talking about his private talks with president obama regarding a publicauction. listen to this. and we have a very good alternative by going with cooperative. >> co-op, that is the buzz word going into this august break for the congressional members. it's being pushed and i want to know if progressives in the senate are going to stand their and fight for real reform. the white house this afternoon and so the story is the developing and joining me now senator, what do you know about this? and what is happening here? is the white house back backing away? >> i don't think the white house is backing away. i know what the president said publicly, that he needed a strong public auction to keep strong rules to rate the community system and pre-existing conditions. all of that. but we still need to keep the insurance companies honest. we're going to insist on it in the senate and we're going to get it in the senate. they are going to do it in the house and we'll have a strong public auction. >> now, public auction would offer up insurance to those who can't affor

we are going to dip into senator chuck grassley. he is in the middle of his opening statement, the senator from >> judges and justices must wear blindfolds when the interpreter when they interpret the constitution can't administer justice. i will be asking you about your ability to wear that judicial blindfold. i will be asking you about your ability to decide cases in an impartial manner and in accordance with law and the constitution. i will be asking you about your judicial philosophy, whether you allow personal biases to allow you -- to dictate your decisions. finally, the supreme court should not be made up of men and women who are on the side of one special group or issue. rather, the supreme court should be made up of men and women who are on the side of the law and the constitution. i am looking to support a restrained jurists committed to the rule of law and the constitution. i'm not looking to support a creative jurist who will allow his or her background and personal preferences to decide cases. the senate needs to do its

chuck grassley said no bill with a mandate on eloyers can pass >> we're going to exclude some small businesses a give tax credits fo those whotep up to thelate and provide money to help. ext numbers, wereally haven't decided, but we're mindful of the burdens. keep on having people draw red lines. we can't havehis taxed. we can'tave that plan. we can't have these employersto do anyesnsibility for their employees. you could keep drawing enough red lines anwhen you're through, there noility to get a bill passed a that is counterpductive and going to be veryself-defeating for everybody who wants a bill >> i fod that fascining. congressman waxman said that failure isot anoption, but u and i both know that for the st 70 years, it's been a pretty strong option whenit cos to health care refm. what'sour read onhere congress is? >> they're particularly bogged down because the house is at odds with the senate abou just how to pay for . wealed about this from the begiing. i think the whe house is well aware,they've got ell it to e american people and they've got to convince th american ople that spending

chuck grassley is the ranking republican. only three republicans in all of the senate and congress participating in the talks. they are not making a lot of progress. shepard: the democrats and the house of representatives seemed to be at odds today. >> big time. the democrats have been fractured. they have been divided because you have got 52 conservative democrats, they call themselves blue dogs, who think that health care could increase the deficit, cost money, raise taxes, things of this nature. those 52 conservative democrats could join with republicans and halt things. this morning, the congressional black caucus, particularly liberal in the spectrum of politics, held a news conference to beat up on the conservative democratic blue dogs. it does not get much more divided than this. to give you an example, jim cliburn of south carolina, the majority whip, he is the top vote-counter in the house, he said he has never seen this level of contentiousness among the democratic rank and file. shepard: carl cameron on capitol hil

also interestingly, i spoke with chuck grassley and asked, are you going to vote for judge sotomayor. he told me he was still undecided, but has voted for every supreme court justice, that's eight of the nine currently serving. in his words, he said it would be a change if in fact he ended up voting against her. i just spoke with republican senator hatch. he acknowledged, too, that he's not voted against any supreme court nominees. the one really interesting thing that's just playing out is that the nra has just come out against judge sotomayor, so that has a lot of republicans up here in the senate very nervous or on edge about openly voicing support for judge sotomayor. >> thank you very much. >>> now the bigger picture. are republicans beginning to realize they're better off waiting to fight another day. in a striking break from the course of gop colleagues, south carolina republican senator lindsey graham today appeared to come to sotomayor's defense. watch. >> to those who may be bothered by that, what do you say? >> i regret that i have offended some people. i believe that my li

and that is, because both that republican, chuck grassley, and republican mike ensign, in fact, i wantheir pictures on the screen. because those are two of the three republicans working on a bipartisan basis to get a deal, a health care deal, well, those two republicans told our intrepid congressional producer, ted barrett, last night that they do not see it possible to have a deal done by the time congress leaves for august recess. that is a big blow, tony, to the president. because he -- after he understood that there wouldn't be full senate and house votes, he at least wanted to get a deal announced in the next couple of weeks. he has made that abundantly clear to the negotiators. but that is apparently not going to happen now. and, in fact, we caught up with mike enzi, that republican, just a few minutes ago in the hallway. we want to play for you what he said about that. >> the bill is not ready for prime time, so i don't know any way that it can be completed today or next week, and then we're at the august break. and it is important to get it right for america. >> reporter: so, a

you may remember i interviewed max back us, and chuck grassley some weeks ago.l would be bipartisan and it will be the vehicle that president obama can sign. it hasn't happened. they haven't struck a deal yet. they're negotiating this afternoon and we have to see what their alternative will be to this house surtax on the rich, which senators say is a nonstarter what we expect from the president in a few minutes is to come out and say we need to keep the process moving along. we want the house to pass their bill, something, anything, the senate to get something going, try to move something by the august recess, though that's looking increasingly unlikely. then we have the real discussions, the real negotiations and real fight in september, october. >> john, our "power lunch" guest today is jan ablin. he has a question. >> what i have heard is the real key to paying this whole thing will be eliminating the tax benefit for, you know, deductibility of health benefits for corporate america. is that still out theren. >> reporter: one aide in the senate said we're talk

she'll be followed by chuck grassley, one of the senior republicans.hen they'll go back and forth. we're anxious later today, if we get that far, depending on when they call a recess for the day, lindsey graham, the republican senator from south carolina, we'll be anxious to hear his questions. yesterday he was very dramatic and very pointed in his questioning, some very tough questions for sonia sotomayor. so, a lot still to come in these historic hearings. so, let's talk a little bit about what had just happened most recently. orrin hatch was asking questions. john king, he's one of three republicans, seven republicans on this committee, one of three potentially that could vote to confirm. >> if you were watching the questioning you might think he's inclined to be against her because he asked some tough questions or made it clear he wasn't satisfied or felt she gave him enough information. that has been his trademark over the years, he asks tough questions in a gentlemanly way, but he ascribes to the theory that presidents who win elections should ge

republican senator chuck grassley also called for action over one year ago.the two recently got together to share their concerns. >> in the case of a hospital, there was accusations of patient dumping. congressman rice came to me. we visited about this. we are thinking in terms of legislation on the health-care reform bill that is coming before congress. >> last month, the urban health initiative held a forum to address such concerns, but all that came out of it was their desire to repair the relationship with the community. the medical center continues to insist that no one gets turned away for care. maybe that is because the southside port just think they will be shown the door. >> the initiative was developed in the hometown of the obama is -- the southside pouor just thik that they will be shown the door. >> the initiative was developed in the hometown of the obamas. >> we are going to pass health care reform, not 10 years from now, not five years from now. we are going to pass it this year. sean: joining us is our fox news correspondent, our own ainsley

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three represent kifs, olympia snowe, chuck grassley and enzi. they are set to reject government-run insurance. it might not be something that both sides and the public can stomach. they have another plan. these six senators are talking about doing something else. they are talking about doing something that's called a nonprofit provider of health care or a co-op that would force competition on the private insurers that kind of might be the same as a government system. the same thing the government-run system would do but you are calling it a different name, some are saying. all right. this could be where we are headed. would the president even go for this? he might have to even though his strongest supporters say, no public option, no deal. senator debbie stabenow, democrat of michigan, you have to help us all with this thing. before we get into the co-op and the government-run option. tell me, first, you are party of this committee. tell me how close the committee is to actually getting something that all sides agree on and getting a bill out of

i spoke with a third republican, senator chuck grassley from iowa.told me that his constituents are running pretty hot against judge sotomayor, but also pointed out that he has never voted against a supreme court nominee and that's really interesting. he said in fact of the nine current supreme court justices, he voted for eight of them in the time that he has been in the senate. he said to vote against her, that would be a change. the other republican to watch would be orrin hatch, who could also vote for judge sotomayor. that's significant because it won't be a partisan party vote. then to the full senate, the republicans say they're not going to block, they're not going to filibuster. she will get a vote before the august recess. at this point, it looks like she is well on her way to becoming the first hispanic on the supreme court. the third woman ever and also one other interesting fact. if she is confirmed, she will be the sixth catholic to sit on that court. of the nine justices, she will make the sixth catholic. >> they have a list now of wit

and he will be on the committee as well and jeff sessions of alabama leading the opposition and chuck grassley of aye on the committee since 1981 and orrin hatch, going back decades and lindsey graham is a tough partisan and three others, tomko burn one of the senators in all of it and two members of the leadership, cornyn and kyle and arlen specter used to be a republican and now a democrat and sure to be entertaining as we go forward, bret and megan. >> thanks, carl, questions and controversy surfaced over this nominee's record, but what are the issues and will her record hold up? for those answers, fox news kronl shannon bream is at the u.s. supreme court. . >> hi, this is the first time that the public hears from judge sotomayor, she will have a chance to answer critics and explain things as well. key issues we can look for. first of all, outside of the courtroom, thing she's said and written, the speech she made at duke university where she talks about appellate court, and policy is made and a string of speeches she had a sentence a wise latina may often come to a wise conclusion than a w

bipartisan health care reform saying the gop's point man on health in the finance committee, chuck grassley and mike ensley are under great pressure. max baucus warned by reid, what wrap it up by next week or reid takes over the talks. and feeling cool from the republicans saying he had actually struck a deal on health care. just as the blue dogs and republicans wanted, the bill is not expected to emerge before the august recess giving time for the gop and insurance companies to stoke public fears about any government intervention. house speaker nancy pelosi called them the villains, and steny hoyer saying the democrats go on offense next month, but republicans will, too. the man formerly known at bush's brain, karl rove, accused president obama of "trying to sell his health care proposals." now who was it again that professed the politics of fear? oh, yeah. karl rove. instead of fake scares about wmv, the president is talking about real scars going bankrupt. and tony perkins of the family research council is rolling out an ad specifically to create new bogus fears and while we're at it, ty

in the senate, you have chuck grassley trying to work out a bipartisan deal. it's been hard for the republicans to get traction on their better solutions. but at the same time, they're winning the issue because people are turning against this big government plan as perceived i by the american people and a big cost plan. in this sense, john baner is right. they are winning the issue. >> if you're a democrat going into this recess period, do you want to be seeing republicans of the party no or having tough conversations about here's what i mean my public option, this is what it would do, what it would cover, what it would not cover, here are the two or three proposals to pay for it, a surtax, cadillac benefit plan, taxing health care benefits. do you want to be trying to build support for specific proposals or just saying the republicans are in the way? >> they have to come up with how do you pay for this. m most americans look at this and say we're going to add 47 million people to the insurance pool and somebody's going to have to pay for this. if they bend th