new york chuck schumer. >> new york, chuck schumer, they've got the tax on high cost insurance policies, all sorts of politically connected democrats get a pass for their states on those, so, you're really seeing health care for thee, but not for me. >> it's good to be-- when we come back, vice-president joe biden declares mission accomplished and says that the economic stimulus plan has succeeded ask me. even if you think your mattress is just fine... ask me what it's like to get your best night's sleep every night. why not talk to someone who's sleeping on the most highly recommended bed in america... it's not a sealy... or a simmons... or a serta... ask me about my tempur-pedic. ask me how fast i fall asleep. ask me about staying asleep. these are actual tempur-pedic owners! ask someone you know---check out twitter... try your friends on facebook. you'll hear it all...un-edited. ask me how it feels after 10 years. ask me if it's a good value. just ask me. there are over 4 million tempur-pedic owners! and they're more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. ask me why

chuck schumer of snork a huge proponent of it. to keep that conversation going, he says he still think there is life in a public option because there are members of the senate who are were not on the committee and certainly lots of members of the house it who still believe in it here is how he put it together. >> the house is all for it and they are going to have it in their bill so if you have a conference committee where the house has it strongly, almost rock solid in their bill and the senate, we could have it in the bill, then it's done if we don't have it in the bill, there are 54, 55, 56 democratic senators for it how are they going to report back a bill without it? >> reporter: that is some of how you handicap these votes and where is legislation going. for those of us who love politics, david, this is fun to watch, the behind-the-scenes dealmaking, the wake of what can possibly get through, the ultimate goal for all democrats in congress is to get something done. the second goal is to get something done they can be proud o

to talk to him and have a debate on the where the congress can take the economy with senators chuck schumer -- we will talk about the olympics and the politics. >> of the head wrangler, george stephanopoulos. you can see his exclusive interview with alan greenspan on sunday morning at 10:00. >>> it this weekend, if you are writing metro, be prepared for some delays. dels are again at 9:30 tonight on the red and orange line. the red line and writers -- red line riders should add 20 minutes. the others should prepare an extra half an hour. >>> what kind of weather can writers -- the riders expect? >> it will clear up and be nice. let's look at the conditions around the area right now. we're actually at the very southern edge of a much larger area of rain that extends through pennsylvania and new york state. with the movement here, you will see showers drifting up to the northeast. the heaviest is up towards pennsylvania, kind of lifting out. the next couple of hours, they will come and go. tomorrow morning in the midday tomorrow afternoon could be a couple more showers. not a terrible weekend

>>> questions for our exclusive headliners, alan greenspan and senators chuck schumer and john cornyn. our "this week" debate. >>> then, olympic letdown, did obama overreach? our roundtable with george will, cokie roberts, matthew dowd and katrina vanden huevel of the nation. >>> as always, the sunday funnies. >> the ioc voted and chicago didn't win. i can understand that, it's october, chicago never wins in october. captions paid for by abc, inc. >>> >>> think back to december 2007. george bush was in the white house. hillary clinton was the favorite to replace him. unemployment was 4.9%. today, it's doubled that. america's economy has lost jobs for 21 straight months. more than 7 million jobs gone. there's six americans competing for every open job. yesterday, president obama promised to make that problem his top priority. >> i'm working closely with my economic team to explore additional job opportunities. i you will et up, until businesses who seek capital can thrive. until all responsible home owners can stay in their homes. >> with that, let me bring in the man who knows more ab

george's guests on this the week" will be alan greenspan and senators chuck schumer and john co cornyn>>> before he flew back to the united states, president obama met on board air force one with general stanley mcchrystal, the top commander in afghanistan. it's their first face-to-face meeting since mcchrystal's recent warning that without more troops the mission could fail. and the president of course is in the midst of reviewing war strategy. >>> next, today's unemployment report. which shows 263,000 jobs were cut in september. that's many more than were expected. the unemployment rate rose to 9.8%. since this recession began, some 7 million worker, equal to the combined population of chicago, los angeles and baltimore, have joined the unemployment lines. an extraordinary number. betsy stark is here with us tonight. betsy? >> reporter: charlie, today's report underscores that the recovery from this recession is likely to be in fits and starts and is likely to be long and painful. double-digit unemployment now seems inevitable by the end of the year and most economists expect it to p

chuck schumer, new york, kent conrad, sharon brown -- how much time you have? with us now is a 25 year veteran of policy, in the past she has worked with two massachusetts democrats, left side of things. president obama campaign of a public option. that is what he said we would have, that is what we said we wanted. >> it is politics, pure and simple. the reality is that a public option will be provided by private insurance companies, just like nationally. they are going to have one right over here, they cannot afford things, then they will charge a higher rate. that position says that i have to charge you more because i have to pay for everyone else. they do not want to have to show that they can provide the same care for 1% of the population and not everyone else. shepard: in a capitalist system, which you could argue we are in, if we are in a capitalist system and one organization is operating not-for-profit and everything else operate for profit, how can the for-profit companies continue to be viable? and why would they not collapse, with the government runn

the more moderate version of the public option by chuck schumer also failed. mr.man baucus' apparent obsession of getting something out of the committee that should be noted when the gop was the majority party, it was more than willing to pass crucial legislation with the simple majority when necessary. they passed 13% of legislation with fewer than 60 votes. the democrats passed 7% of its bills. without that 60-vote superma majority. taking on the system. marcus malisis. >> best of wishes to your father. >> blafrmg wilson as an example committed any one of them. they sat in the hospital room next to people splitting their prayers, half for the recovery of the loved ones, half getting the money to pay the bill. >> i've been looking at polling out of arkansas in the last couple of weeks and two data items pop out. one is that lincoln is truly an endangered incumbent. probably the most endangered senate democrat in 2010. she's in a lot of trouble. two, the public option is very popular in arkansas by a 3-2 margin. you think if you're sitting on the outside, you thin

chuck schumer and john cornyn. they came up to the edge of passing their health care reform bill this week. >> right. the president arguing this weekend that health care reform would create jobs and help the economy, do you think that will go over well in congress? >> it's an argument that he has to make. the republicans have been saying that this is going to be a job killer. one of the key points at issue right now, in addition to the cost. because not only americans concerned about unemployment but also the deficit. there's a real tension between dealing with those issues. >> george, thank you so much. so much more on the economy coming up this morning on "this week." >>> espn reporter erin andrews was back on the sidelines, a day after a man accused of stalking her was arrested. the suspect was in court yesterday. eric horng has been following the story. >> reporter: erin andrews did not know the suspect. michael barrt, doesn't seem to fit the profile of a criminal stalker. a clean-cut sales executive. described

the amendment offered by chuck schumer also failed thanks to baucus, conrad and lincoln. it should be noted that when the gop was the majority party, he was more than willing to pass crucial legislation with a simple majority when necessary. in 1991, republicans passed 13% of legislation, the democrats passed about 7% of its bills without that 60-vote supermajority. the author of taking on the system, good evening. >> glad you're back and best of wishes to your father. >> do you think blanch lincoln. just as an example, has ever sat in a recovery room half praying for they loved one and half hoping they have the money to get through it. >> probably the most endangered senate democrat in 2010. so she's in a lot of trouble. two, the public option is very popular in arkansas, by a 3-2 margin, so you would think if you're sitting on the outside, you think, well, if you have trouble getting elected, do the popular thing and that will help you, right? lincoln votes against the public option and against almost 60% of her constituents. it makes no sense, and, keith, i don't know

both chuck schumer and max baucus, they are activity considering the idea. and late today, you know what? i never thought i'd be left of howard dean, but i guess i am. howard dean, a doctor whose opinion carries a lot of weight with lefties, threw his support behind this state opt-in, opt-out gig? dean says it's real reform and if the opt-out proposal were to get 60 votes in the senate, democrats ought to support that. am i the last rat to leave the ship? the republicans are getting everything they want for the insurance industry, and i'll tell you what, lefties, we got to call, stay focused, we got to be on this. no cable talk show is going to talk somebody into a vote. i understand that. but i do believe that there are americans out there that want this, that can be motivated to force these folks that when they get in the conference committee, they'll remember it's about the people and not the insurance industry. get out your cell phones, i want to know what you think about this. are democrats at a point where they're just going to take anything when it co

i think chuck schumer is going to be the key person with harry reid. he's close to harry reid.put the bills together, reid have already said it, there will be a public plan option in the bill that goes to the floor of the senate. good-bye, max baucus. >> michael medved, this is not the way the republicans wanted it to play out. they wanted a big fight here. what's going to happen? >> the way the republicans wanted it to play out was not to have a big fight and not to have a public option. the problem here for democrats is it's so difficult for democrats to get together on this. precisely because the american people aren't together on it. the american people are worried. they're worried about the fact that it's a lot of backstage wheeling and dealing and internal conflicts in the democratic party that's going to end up taking over one-sixth of the american economy and saddling us with more debt than we can handle. >> gentlemen, let's switch gears and talk about military issues. 40,000 more troops to afghanistan. that's what the generals want. general mcchrystal. what do you thin

senator chuck schumer says many democrats favor a middle ground proposal that allow states to opt out if they don't want to participa participate. his colleagkocolleague sherrod s he thinks that's what they need. >> i've gotten a lot of pressure. i don't want to do that. i see the public overwhelmingly wants a public option. 70% of physicians want a public option. at least 52 or 3 or 4 democratic senators have said they want a strong public option, according to tom harkin, the chairman of the committee. i think that that's the best thing for our country. >> but another democrat senator bill nelson says he's against the public option, even if the states can opt out. >> well, i certainly am not excited about a public option where states would opt out or a robust, as they call it robust government-run insurance plan. i'll take a look at the ones where they can opt in. look. i'm a jeffersonian democrat. i think states can make decisions on they're own about their own citizens. >> utah republican orrin hatch says the government's current problems with medicare and medicaid prove a public o

. >> i don't know, but chuck schumer is with us.ews. >>> some international forces are staging a new assault on the taliban near the area where eight united states soldiers were killed over the weekend. 16 troops have been killed in afghanistan this month already, matching the death toll for all of last year. and we have jim live. >> reporter: there is good reason for the assault, because they have evidence now that the taliban is behind the deadly attack that killed the eight american soldiers. they say new intelligence indicates that more than one top taliban commander was killed in the fight. the deadly battle came in the mountainous terrain. it's only 20 miles from the pakistan border. 80 fighters launched a vision attack with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, and fighting so intense med evacuate helicopters could not land to rescue the wounded for several hours. and in the end eight americans were killed, and u.s. military officials claim as 50 enemy dead. >> there was bravery out there and they fought a hard fight an

this morning, chuck schumer of new york is a democrat and strong advocate for the public option.erwhelming majority of the democrats in the senate are for. whether we get 60 or not depends on where it's put in the bill and how that all works. there are a number of compromises, i'm talking to some of the moderates and they are very open for. the house is all for and have it in their bill. you have a house conference committee where the house has it strongly in their bill and the sna senate we could have it in the bill and it's done. if we don't have it in the bill there are 45, 56, democratic senators how will they report back a bill without it? >> chuck shum ser part of the leadership team on the democratic side and trying to get people together but ron wyden of oregon, also a democrat, has been taking risks and speaking out against some of the democrats, frustrated, as you know, dylan, about the fact that his idea to get people who get their insurance through their employer a chance to choose. that didn't get to committee and daet get a vote the. he is frustrated about that. he