rick: senate finance committee is crafting a plan that relies on nonprofit co-ops. how does it work? each person pays a set amount of money and then their coverage of to a certain amount each year. the plan grows as more people joined in. paul glover joins us from philadelphia. we do not know exactly what the final health care plan is going to be, but there has been a lot of talk amongst senior lawmakers and the senate about these co-ops. how does it work and why would it be good for americans? >> i do favor extending medicare to everybody, but to make affordable, there needs to be a nonprofit member owned cooperative health system. i started in ithaca, new york in 1997 as an uninsured person myself, believing it would be a long time for the government to get around to providing a foundation for our health security. rick: the payments are pretty nominal, $100 per year debt to about $3,000 worth of coverage. is the comprehensive enough? do you find that covers all of your health care expenses? >> for the uninsured to have no access or eligibility for government care

what seems to be talked about here is financing.s one piece of the puzzle and the other is capital being raised. >> with what you know, would this make it a better deal for treasury or more aminable or get sheila to go back to debt? >> i think so. it's one piece of it. let me be clear. treasury has an interest. of course you would entertain options of putting more money in to save the investment. that's part of what will motivate the treasury. they don't want to put good money in and go into a situation where the fix will not save the company. >> they have been out there saying this is a problem. if they go, you see a lot of retailers and they come up to defend the position. you have to draw the line somewhere. >> we are talking about a million customers. that's the problem. if you saw today, a story about customers and just above that, a story about how small business is angry with the obama administration. that's a part of it. when you do the numbers, it's not that much money. 3.1 trillion annually. i think about a $75 billion bal

so the chairman of the finance committee says basically the president is not helping us. that's what he told reporters outside his office. he said the president does not want the exclusion that is making it difficult. this is very familiar. this is starting to feel very much like 1994. i was working for the chairman of the finance committee at the time, he had his tensions with the white house and they tended not to be as public as we saw with chairman but a baukiss. >> i don't think it is there yet. remember, on that part, i think you have members of congress feeling excluded largely, therefore, there was months and months to build up their particular dislike of the fact that a plan was being crafted in secret. the obama administration has worked in opposition of that and said we are open to suggestions, but i think time, kelly made this important and it's the most important thing, time is critical. the white house knows that the more time that politicians have to hear from constituents to sort of raise electoral worries, that works against getting something passed. reme

the senate finance committee is still back and forth. a.b. what is your sense on both sides?oor vote and can't imagine the energy and commerce committee producing something by friday. they have been at a standoff for over a week. the blue dogs and the republicans are waiting for a senate mark, coming from the finance committee chaired by max baucus has now been expected for more than two weeks. almost two weeks ago he said something should come today. he couldn't even give just a page, a few paragraphs to the president to come and talk about in that press conference. that could come out. i can't imagine the finance committee is going to do a full markup of a full bill by the time they leave on august 2. that's what waiverring democrats want. they want what they think will be the final legislation, which is the senate finance bill, and they want it passed, and they want to talk about it over the recess. i don't see it happening. bret: senate republicans vocally are saying that senator ghastly from iowa may be giving up too much at the negotiating table, the ranking member of t

where he's going to have to look is what kind of legislation comes out of the finance committee.e that we are waiting for. they're the ones who are going to be talk about the tremendous savings we're going to be achieving. >> all right, thanks for waiting. that does it for us today. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. tomorrow, pat buchanan, pat sh rurks m. contessa brewer picks up coverage next. could someone toss me an eleven sixteenths wrench over here? here you go. eleven sixteenths... (announcer) from designing some of the world's cleanest and most fuel-efficient jet engines... to building more wind turbines than anyone in the country... the people of ge are working together... creating innovation today for america's tomorrow. thanks! no problem!

we move forward and look forward to see what the finance commit does. and tell our neighbors and friends that the united states congress is dealing with the most important issue of the day, making sure people in our state have access to healthcare. i think about a young boy named marcelous who lost his mom. she got sick and couldn't see a doctor. lost her job because she was sick. this boy lost his mom. >> any questions we have? this were numerous things i went through dealing with the republican contributions. working on long-term care, working on small business, there were numerous contributions made from our republican friends. they made it a better bill. that's the way it is supposed to be. i regret they didn't think it significant enough to pass. the important issue is a good bill. geth a by part sdan bill that doesn't do anything for the people out this depending on it is not going to be warmly received. it is the millions of our fellow citizens that either have no coverager undercover age who are losing jobs, losing homes. >> senator dodd, [inaud

financing for and along with the filing for cit. back to you. >> thanks very much and david will keep following that overall. cit barely a blip. that's the most significant and the dow is close to even and the s&p and by far in the lead and led by tech up 20%. that's a difference between the tech-heavy index and the regular. where should you put your money? we have two of them. we have the ceo with the other. let's start with you. footlocker is the bet on discretionary income? >> i think what it's a bet on is what we like the capital. a beautiful balance sheet. footlocker and sports about a 10 multiple of free cash flow that pays over a 6% dividend. they slowed the growth and the comps are off a little bit, but they may be off more here in the next little while. a valuation is higher than the $10 share price. >> what are about ibm and tech is up the most. still a go? >> erin, still go with ibm, it has been riding with the tech waves and it was once seen or known known. as far as the pet business, pet smart is a store not unlike mcdo

to violate cam plan finance law, all stemming -- campaign finance law, all stemming from a payment between the two. >> that was helen holton in may after a judge dismissed bribery charges against her, claiming legislative immunity. now it is a new ball game. a grand jury filed criminal charges for the same issue. according to the indictment, the charges have to do with the $12,500 payment is made to holton. the indictment said she met with a developer and requested they pay for the survey. they agreed, and lipscomb paid the company in full, and according to the report pat irakus made the payment. according to law, the payment should have gone to the finance entity so it could be properly reported. >> they have given additional information based on other evidence. >> a political expert says it appears this time around prosecutors may have a better case. last month he pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws and is cooperating with the state. what remains to be seen is what effect the new charges could have on the mayor. >> if they say -- if they have the same revelation, she could

we can even help with financing. if there's a way, we'll find it! so don't wait any longer, call the scooter store today. >>> all right. right now, we have the dow jones industrial average up about 10 points on the trading session. part of that is linked to two key dow components, disney is one of them. and heat packed another, jpmorgan contributing in the overall markets today, as well, despite the fact that a lot of people thought we would have some profit-taking. let's get to our market reporters right now and talk about this market. bob pi san see is at the new york stock exchanges, and brian shackman and robert, what are they chatting about today? >> they're talking about cit, but i think we should start with jpmorgan, because the financials are to the down side. credit concerns are a major issue at this point. they beat on fixed income. that's where they won. but look at the nonperforming loans. they were up 30%. charge-offs were a little higher for home equity, prime mortgages and credit cards. they have more than doubled the amount set aside

and the federal housing finance agency. now let's take a look at our stocks in the news tonight. >> paul: tonight's "street critique" guest is seeing strength in the tech sector. he's david garrity principal at g.v.a. research david welcome back to n.b.r. >> thank you, paul. good evening. >> paul: before we get into technology. what's your opinion on the market and the economy in general? >> on the market we're over weight equities we think the central banks are supportive and the equities will be the class that out performs. divided opinion how strong the economy will be and the market will continue to benefit. >> paul: so you're a bull at the moment. >> yes, sir. >> paul: we saw big technology names this week. how do you feel the sector is going overall. >> we're seeing strong expense control and though revenue hasn't been as robust as analysts hope for as we start to see growth unfold such as windows 7 from microsoft we think there's nice leverage for investors to look forward to. >> paul: speaking of microsoft it posts

the ression is forcing us to take ste to get out finances in better shape. and as a result, experts s, we'rtaking charge of our lives, and feeling betteabout it. but, wre still a nation of borrowers. if you run theumbers, jeff, for ery $100 an average household earns, it ow $124 in some kinof debt. >> oh, pulling the belt and wait for the economyo rn around, i guess. >> gooddvice. >> jeff: that's "nightly business report" f monday, july 13. i'm jeff yastine. goodnight, everyonand good night toou, susie. >> sus: goodnight, jeff. i'm susie gharib. we hope to see all of you agn tomorrow eveni. "nightly business repo" is made posble by: this proam was made possible by contributions to yo pbs station om viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by bt captned by media cess group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

she is now charged with violating campaign finance laws and conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws. both charges stem from a $12,500 payment for a political survey. just two months ago, a judge threw out the misconduct and bribery charges against her. but the state prosecutor refiled the charges against her. also, new in this indictment, prominent local developer john paterakis. he is accused of paying for half of the political survey for helen holton. the other person who paid for the survey, developer ron lipscomb, pled guilt to violating campaign finance laws last month. >> many members of the wjz team are working on this story. we'll have a live update, new at 5:00, on eyewitness news. >>> home-grown terrorists captured. federal agents have broken up what they say is a terrorist group plotting attacks abroad, including israel. one man charged with recruiting his own sons. >> reporter: the alleged ring leader is daniel patrick boyd, who preferred the muslim alias, sifulla. boyd, his two adult sons, and four others, are charged with conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim and injure p

look, the fights are where the financing is, and that's what nobody can agree on right now.he senate finance committee has been meeting, is continuing to meet behind closed doors, trying to work out a bipartisan deal on how to pay for this thing. the house has a plan, but there's revolt even within the ranks of the democratic party about this idea

now, the senate finance committee may roll out their bill sometime this week. finance committee chairman max baucus, one of my favorites, said this week, just kidding, the president isn't helping us? uh, max, who are you helping? i want to remind you, folks, about the money that max baucus, the senator from montana, chairman of the finance committee, just where he's getting his funding. it's from the big health care interests. over the past six years, baucus has taken $3.5 million from the health care industry. got it? well, let's break it down. that's nearly a quarter of every campaign dollar, senator baucus has taken since 2003, has come from the very people who are trying to stop this reform. maybe that's why baucus' committee just keeps pushing this ludicrous idea about taxing health care benefits. that would stick it to the middle class. in my view, you know what that's like? that's like $4 a gallon gas. do the math. do the math. how did it feel when it was four bucks a gallon? if they start taxing your health care benefits, that's what it's going to do, h

a deal for a $3 billion in rescue financing coming through.arned that the liquidity facility carries two and a half years for a term. and parts available immediately. the fund should help cit avoid bankruptcy for the short term. there are questionses about the long-term ramifications. an official announcement is expected before the markets open. >> you remember when the bankruptcy didn't come, we said things are a little bit different now. maybe there are some smart vultures there that see something, enough value for the private sector to do the bailout instead of the government. >> i like how the journal put it. there is enough private money to plaster over the cracks in the financial system. >> which wasn't there five months ago. >> how much better do we feel about it when it goes this way? i'm glad it's not gone for small businesses. i thought it was cool that maybe the administration stepped away, because so many republicans own small

they are interested, there is a public plan, finance a public plan and how it would be financed and we also ask them about cost and quality. so the survey covered a a lot of materials. >> do you feel at all, paul that this reminds you in any way of president bush's social security platform that, you know, something the president clearly feels very, very strong about and yet there is a lot of political resistance and a lot of sort of just basic reality that is creeping into this situation? >> yeah the realities i are hard. i mean, we are running out of money as we all know. and i think that people are really reluctant right now to have the government spend a lot of money on health care when there is no promise of a true return. so the employers, again, they are telling us loud and clear we still want to sponsor these plans. we want to actually encourage the expansion of plans around clinical guidelines, evidence-based medicine and the like and that's over 90% feeling that way. >> let me just ask you, paul in so far as your responses go, your poll goes, if the government insurance progra

in the senate, one of the key blue dogs is finance committee chairman max baucus. "the washington post" reports on its front page that health-related companies and its employers gave the democratic chairman's political committees nearly $1.5 million in 2007 and 2008 when baucus began holding hearings and making preparations for this year's reform debate. lots to talk about with our own political analyst, jonathan alter. also a senior editor at "newsweek" magazine. jonathan, good evening. it no longer seems to be just senator demint, president obama is now pitting all republicans against american who is don't have health insurance. might the republicans come to regret turning health care reform into a political fight with the president? >> well, you know, they don't seem to regret much of anything, as they're on the way over the cliff. what demint said, where he said that this would be barack obama's waterloo, that they would "break the president" on health care, this was music to the white house's ears. this is just what they were hoping for. the republicans have w

in other words, as a finances financier. things still look rather bleak, make no mistake about it, for cit, in part because the company seems to have embarked on this entire effort. plan b, if you want to call it that. at a very, very late stage. truly believing it would seem until wednesday it would ultimately get what it needed from its federal regulators in terms of being allowed to transfer assets from its bank offer finance company to its bank. and to get support from the fdic to issue debt backed by them. take a look, though. you want to try and figure things out, you want to play distressed debt vft investor at home. here is a spreadsheet that's making the rounds. there are the -- the assets ex pledged collateral. so that's actually unencumbered. corporate vendor, transportation trade, student loans. you have it all there, and then you take a haircut, and that's your potential recovery value we're talking about there. $28.7 billion. again, this is one of many spreadsheets making the rounds amongst investors right now

i'm talking about simply those finance companies that use receivables to finance themselves. something needs to be done about that market. it's a huge market, number one. number two. the institutional market in the leverage buyouts and all noninvestment finance, that's all almost gone. imagine this. in the height of the lbos there was in 2005, a $4 billion b loan done, the next year there was like a $10 billion b loan done then the txu deal, that famous one of the last ones, $21 billion b loan done. now you can probably only do a $1 billion b loan. something has to be done there. the next thing is revofling credit. that is a difficult market and something needs to be done there. >> three opportunities for you then. thanks for taking the time. >> jimmy lee, vice president of jp morgan chase. jim reacts and tom brokaw will be coming your way. we have some news on the media front and we have that -- actually a new television channel. we'll be right back. we have ever created. awaken its driver he begins to doze... keep him in his lane if he starts to wander... even stop itself i

i'm in charge of finance. one might have colleagues is minister of interior.another one is justice. he has given a very strong signal at the top. >> and is france changing in broader sense? we have an image of europe in the united states, perhaps unfairly, but the imf numbers again tell you why, which is that this is a place with a very large state, perhaps as a result of very good life for most people, but very little energy, very little vitality. as one senior official in the bush administration once said to me, he said it's the world's greatest outdoor museum, meaning its glor riz are behind it, it lacks the energy, vigor, to kind of confront the problem, the world of the future. is that changing? is there a sense that that may always have been a caricature but there was some true to it. >> i said to you earlier that there was this straitjacket and that the country was a little bit dozing. that was a bit the case. there was -- we were very proud of our history, our monuments. we should be very proud of that, very proud of our cuisine and we should be proud

i was working for the chairman of the finance committee at the time. he had his tensions with the white house. they tended not to be as public as what we just saw with chairman baucus. is this starting to looked like 1994 all over again. >> i don't think it's there yet, know i think there are parallels, but i don't think it's there yet. remember, on that part i think you had members of congress feeling as though they were excluded largely, and, therefore, there was months and months to build up their particular dislike of the fact that a plan was being crafted in secret. the obama administration has worked in opposition to that and said, look, we're open to suggestions, but i think time -- kelly made this point and i think it's the most important thing -- time is critical. the white house knows that the more time that politicians have to hear from constituents, to sort of raise electoral worries, that works against getting something passed. think back to when sonia sotomayor was nominated by the president. republicans said we can't possibly do this bef

the senate finance committee, let's all bow and genuflect. they're ready to deep-six health care reform as you and i want it. max baucus and chuck grassley have a plan with no mandate -- that means not everybody's going to get covered -- no public option -- that means there's a real good chance rates won't come down -- all in the name of bipartisanship. listen to baucus today. >> it's very important, we spent a lot of time with them. with all colleagues who really do want health care reform. that and all democrats. most republicans. >> most republicans? want health care reform? folks, i think we could almost put that in "psycho talk" tonight. senator, the democrats have 60 votes. you've got it right there for the taking. the republicans are still telling you what to do, how high to jump, when to jump. there are several democrats on the finance committee, although who do support a public option. here's what they had to say today. >> my first choice is to have a public plan. and to have a public option. but we all understand that there's going

he's charged with one count of conspiracy to violate campaign finance law. the charges stem from a poll conducted for councilwoman helen holton. according to the indictment paterakis paid for part of that poll. holton faces two counts of conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws, she could face a year in prison and a $25,000 fine on each of those counts. another developer, ronald lipscomb, admitted his role for part of that. he's already pleaded guilty and in doing so court documents show he implicated paterakis. in a statement holton's attorney says he's confident the new charges against her will be dropped as well. a spokesperson for mayor sheila dixon says she will not comment on the new indictments. coming up, we'll also hear from a close personal friend of paterakis, in the meantime we want to hear what you think. head to abc2news.com and tell us what you think. reporting live at harbor east, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >>> 5:32. on the heels of a violent weekend in baltimore with a record 21 shootings in just six hours we have some good news on the c

and give us the behind-the-scenes of what is happening with the senate finance committee, and will adeal get done? >> first of all, set the stage in thes house, there were three different committees and, they have not been able to bring a bill to the floor yet and were hoping to do that, within the next week, but, that doesn't look likely. in the senate there are two committees the health education labor and pensions committee which has reported a bill out, it is very much more along the lines of the house bill and what the president talked about, and then in the finance committee, which is supposed to write key parts of it, particularly talking about how to finance all of this we've had a lot of meetings, bohl formal and informal meetings, but there has been no product yet. and, one of the reasons as you point out is this is very hard and hard to get democrats together to agree on a bill let alone republicans and i think it is important to remind folks that democrats have a 60-40 majority in the senate and a bigger margin than that in the house, and so, if they all got together they

the senate finance committee.e're -- as you mentioned, there are six of us, three democrats, three republicans, who are trying to put together something that can be proposed to the rest of the members of the committee for their consideration. and no decision has been made on public option or no public option at this point. >> senator, the president has made it very clear, that's what he wants. and many democrats across the country think that he went to washington with a mandate, winning nine bush states and bringing out a new generation of democrats and their focus was health care. do you think that you would be letting the president down as a democrat, one of the three on the committee, if the finance committee does not offer a public option? >> well, i think that -- i serve also on the health and education committee here in the senate. we reported the bill two weeks ago that does contain a public option, which i strongly supported. and i think that's got to be part of the debate that we go through here. i hope i

senator grassley was just saying that that is still one option to come out of senate finance.n hole to plug. and he is saying that you all on senate finance need to come up with that hole, but you're not willing to accept what has come out of senator ted kennedy, senator chris dodd, as well as what's coming from the house side. >> well, look, i think this can be done. all the stars would have to be in alignment to get it done in the next three weeks, but what's critically important here is that we do get bend the cost curve right and virtually every economist that's come before us has said reducing the tax subsidy for health care, which is $2.4 trillion over the next ten years, should be part of it. and we're talking about just high-end plans, plans that have a value of over $25,000 a year. that's only 1% of the policies that are issued. >> one of the real game changers was last week's hearing on thursday, when you had the head of cbo in front of you. this is a little bit of the key moment between you and doug elmendorf. >> every one has said, virtually everyone, that bending

in the finance committee, which supports key parts of it, talking about how to finance all of this, we have had a lot of meetings both formal and informal meetings, but there's been no product yet. and one of the reasons, as you point out, is this is very hard. it's hard to get democrats together to agree on a bill let alone republicans. it's important to remind folks that democrats have a 60-40 majority in the senate and a bigger margin than that in the house. if they got together, they could pass a bill. this isn't being held up by republicans. it's hard. there have been a lot of informal negotiations over the past three or four weeks. no bill has emerged yet. i think it is probably unlikely that we will actually produce a bill in the committee before the august recess, but, bret, i want to say i think that's a good thing. you know, this is a democratic republic where the people are supposed to tell us what to do. they've heard about a lot of different plans and it's a good thing to go home over the august recess, lay it out to our constituents and say here are all the pros and cons.

we're waiting to see what finance comes up with. he continues to work with the finance committee saying this is not the preferred strategy. >> not the preferred. but it's not necessarily completely being ruled out? >> well, no lines in the sand at this point. the most important thing is a health care reform bill passed this year, comprehensive reform because we can't afford to pay what we're paying right now. we're paying twice as much as any nation on earth, living sicker, dying younger, and that isn't good for any american. >> will the president accept health care reform that does not include a public option? in other words public government-run health insurance companies competing with the private health insurance companies? >> again, he has said consistently and very strongly a public option is one of the strategies that will help lower costs, provide some competition for private insurers, and make sure that consumers in many parts of the country have a choice. absent that, you won't have cost competition and you won't have choi

one might think of financing it by adding an additional tax, but the key issue is you have to control costs. we're spending 50% over any other economy to cover health care, and the quality of health we see in the united states is much less than europe and other countries. so we have to do much more to control costs, otherwise, health care is already one-sixth of the economy and could become even bigger in the next 20 years with the aging population. that's what we must do, control costs. >> would the only advance in industrial countries that don't have health care, couldn't we do something? >> we want to be able to cover those that are uninsured, but i keep remembering that phrase at the beginning of the administration, that the administration shouldn't let a good crisis go to waste, but i think the crisis could end up wasting a good administration. what's happening here is very predictable. the administration is going to propose something and then congress is going to decide not to pay for it, because they'll chip away at any tax increases and it will make the debt even larger. if an

it also is the case that many couples cite their finances as a major source of tension, particularlya recession. but there are ways to survive the slowdown and maintain that marital bliss, as neal karlinsky now reports. >> do you have the list? do you have anything? i know we talked about this before. >> i was not able to find the list. >> diary of a couple caught in the grips of a seemingly endless squabble. the hansons, chris and kathy, squabble over one issue that stands to break up their issue. >> do you have a hard time staying on gj with the grow shes. >> money. >> i would say trying to protect our family. >> it's an issue millions of couples struggle with, but they say they need help and they're making their lives an open book in order to get it. first, chris is a 40-year-old software engineer and kathy a stay at home. they have three kids and a house in california. >> dear lord, we pray that in our weakness that we would be be made strong. >> by day, at the mall, kathy admits to having a bit of a wandering eye. >> this is where i get in trouble. >> especially when it comes to

we got our bill out of the senate finance committee. it then went out on the senate floor and the whole exercise died in four days on the senate floor. but the fact it gets out of the finance committee is not the end of the story either. it can all die on the senate floor. >> lawrence o'donnell, "the huffington post" and msnbc, with a wealth of experience on this, thank you for coming on tonight. we appreciate it. >> thanks, david. >>> meantime, president obama says he's surprised by the response to the statement about the arrest of the harvard professor. the president did not walk away from the comments that the police department of cambridge acted stupidly. and both the professor and the arresting officer are refusing to apologize. new information about the backbone of the policeman. the last few minutes of the press conference hasn't happened. that's next on "countdown." >>> the president's comments on the racially charged debate around arresting of a harvard professor, rush limbaugh is crying reverse discrimination. the bust so big

north carolina, defending his push for a government-backed public option, a goal that the senate finance committee is now dropping in order to gain bipartisan support. but there is a noticeable change how this dialogue is going, instead of pushing health care and reform of health care and expansion of health care, the president is pushing health insurance reform, consumer protection s white house losing the message war? >>> and disturbing new reports today that iranian protestors, dissenters, political prisoners were beaten and gruesomely abused in jail. this is sparking new outrage in tehran. this as the iranian officials are about to release high-profile prisoners in an attempt to defuse the reports and growing political opposition. good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. >>> lucia whalen says she feared for her own safety since making that 911 call leading to the arrest of harvard protester henry louis gates jr. here with us, clarence page, a nationally syndicated columnist with the chicago tribune. we are talking about the third rail of the american politics, the race debat

ronald pled guilty to violating campaign finance laws. what remains to be seen is what effect these new charges would have on the mayor. >> if convicted, both people face up to one year in prison and a face a fine as well. the mayor's office is not commenting. wbal tv 11 news. >> a baltimore city police officer will serve a 10-day jail sentence for assaulting her girlfriend -- his girlfriend. he was sentenced three years, but he will only serve 10 days. he allegedly hope -- choked her in their home. >> a pipe bomb was discovered on the beach yesterday afternoon. the area was evacuated. no one was hurt. a memorial service will be held to remember the victims who died in a helicopter crash on i 70 last week. they were killed when the chopper struck a power line when they were returning home from a business meeting. the -- memorial is scheduled for tomorrow. >> owners of the steel mill could find themselves at odds with the chesapeake bay association. they are claiming that the mill is not honoring an agreement to clean up pollution at the s

two key senate committees are now making progress on separate health care proposals, but the finance committee is. dropping two of the president's top goals. 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 th

senate, health, education, labor, and pensions as well as the finance committee. senator, you walked out of the negotiations yesterday, saying that you did not think that they were going anywhere and that they were key ingredients in what finance was working on, that you could not support. could you tell us what were those obstacles? >> yeah. i basically disagreed with the direction that it was going, but i didn't mean to cause such a furor. all i can say is that i cannot support a government-run plan. and placing bureaucrats back here between you and your doctor. i really don't like the idea of a job-killing mandate that is going to hurt a lot of the people in the lower-income spectrum, people who really need those jobs. but they're going to lose them if we go to that. of course, they're trying to do a medicaid expansion that literally would transfer somewhere near 119 million people from private insurance into medicaid. and this is the government that now has medicare. why would we do that? i want to pay a tribute to max baucus, the chairman of the committee. he

today the senate finance committee failed to hammer out a compromise package with the version already passed by the health education labor and pensions committee. in the house, blue dog democrats vowed to wait for the budgetary office to score the cost efficiency of chairman henry wax man's version. >> in other words, he is watering it down. and we have to make a determination whether we accept the watered down proposal or make a counter proposal. >> by day's end, only senate majority leader harry reed was predicting account get a final version marked up and reported out of the finance committee bye week's end when the august recess begins. >> sticky summer day. how does the rest of the week shape up? here is chief meteorologist vytas reid is the forecast. >> another hot and sticky day out there today. and several more on the way. as the humidity level will be spiking out there. looking at the hd skycam. inner harbour, no activity down there we had a thunderstorm earlier today. but it pushed off to the northeast. cecil county, you folks up toward elkton getting a shower. but 75 degree

the huge fg and finance program what has been sxlimted in the u.s. the gains that crowd of really return in risk appetite on the market and investors going back to equities from the bond market, of course, to have a lot of issuance is something that we are looking at very carefully because that may mean that we could have an unwelcome rise in long-term yields this year which will prevent the economy from recovering as it has started to do a bit. >> i'll put this question to both of you, and i'll start to you with you, aurore, what do you think about risk appetite or are investors getting ahead of themselves? >> as far as i think, investors are ahead of the curve. we have had a lot of those green shoots happening in the u.s. economy from spring, but actually, not a lot of them have been able to bless some things they appear to the market. so i think that really markets are thinking that the secretary derivative now in the u.s. economy that has turned positive is a signal for a strong and broadly based u.s. recovery. that's actually not my view. i thin

this time the charges that she violated campaign finance laws. as for john paterakis a close friend told abc2 news that he can't believe the state prosecutor chose to target him. >> it's a sad day. but i'm quite confident that mr. paterakis will be exonerated of any wrongdoing. >> reporter: helen holton's attorney released a statement saying in part "miss holton is innocent. there was no conspiracy and she's confident this charge will meet the same fate as the earlier one." a spokesman for mayor sheila dixon says that she will not comment on the new indictments. reporting live in harbor east, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >>> a baltimore county councilman pleads guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations. kenneth oliver told a judge yesterday he made a mistake and there was no criminal intent. oliver was sentenced to 50 hours of community service. the randallstown democrat will also pay $2,500 in fines. oliver acknowledged writing two checks to himself, one for $2,000, the other for $300 from his campaign committee's checkbook. >>> a visib

i think there should be of some restrictions on campaign finance.ost: the next caller is from athens, ga., on the independent line. caller: that was such an it all again question you posed, i must say. i have been watching msnbc and they had people like eliot spitzer and the wife of eack welch -- the new wife jack welch -- and i just cannot imagine that she second got anything except that she is married to him and he has lots of money and talks a lot. host: this is fred on the republican line. talking about campaign contributions and public policy. caller: good morning, it helps to separate media and politics. because right now media is running everything because money is the issue. if a politician does not have money, so nobody will hear him. so, who deals with the media? in order to help you have to set the standard not to use money for media. the media should just give free time to politicians and that would stop all the problems. people give money and they expect back and then politicians will go a different way from the beginning. host: i do no

cit has been limping along trying to get financing for two years now. they thought they got it with the december approval of the bank holding company. the tglp was suppose today be the next step but the fdic said no. there is no long-term solution for cit. having a finance company in this world especially with their credit rating destroyed, they have no access to funding.g. they need to be bought but, unfortunately, it's not the right time to sell. >> do you put any credence whatsoever on a report in "the new york post" today that jp morgan would be interesting in buying the factoring unit of cit? >> yes, i do. the factoring unit is probably the crown jewel of the franchise. it has over 50% market share in retail factoring. it's a good, slow business, probably the business that puts the u.s. economy most at risk. they do a lot of retail business and a lot of suppliers depend on cit for financing for their day-to-day cash flow needs. i wouldn't be surprised at all to see the factoring business be the first to be sold from cit. >> just quickly, chris, the

people are already so strained with their finances.illary clinton discussed that during the campaign. conservatives and people who do not believe that should happen really do not like it. it is a visceral reaction. host: the article says that the fact that these benefits are not taxed as and mit specialist noted, says it is nothing more than an arbitrary and mr. decision made 60 years ago. there is that idea that if it is not done it is not politically popular. who is it palatable to? do we hear that from some democrats? guest: yes, we do your that from some democrats, especially the idea of taxing some top earners. republicans said that could lead into small-business owners. that does not sit well with blue dog democrats or with republicans because their contention is that it kills jobs. business owners will cut back. host: on the line for democrats from huntington, n.y.. caller: i am amazed by the amount of misinformation you are putting out today. i'm surprised you really do not know what you're talking about. first of all, during t

that is russ sullivan, who is the democratic staff director for the senate finance committee. why did he send that e-mail this morning? it is the expectations game, tony. we know if there is a sense that they could get a deal by the end of the week and they don't, it is, yet, another failure. there is another reason. another main reason is because the senators who are not in this room, if they see, read and hear they're close to an agreement and they don't know all the details there, not going to be very happy about it. we have already seen ruffled feathers about that so far. but having said that, you're right, it really struck me that the lead republican this morning suggested that they are close and that is not that different than what other senators going in and out of this room today are telling us, but, you know, a deal isn't going to happen until the deal actually happens and we hope that we'll be the first to tell you about it. >> dana, let's do this, when we get together the next hour, the president has the town hall and we'll assume we will have more time. dana bash,

she charged with one count of conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws. the charges stem from a poll conducted for helen holton. according to the indictment, paterakis paid for part of the poll. holton is facing two counts of conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws. she could face a year in prison and a $25,000 fine on each of those counts. here is what she had to say back in may after initial charges were dropped. >> i am thankful for this day that i'm much that closer to the restoration of my good name and the work that i've done in serving the city. >> another developer, ron lipscomb admitted his role in paying for part of that poll. he has alreadied a pleaded guilty and implicated paterakis. in a statement released tonight, holton's attorney says he is confident the new charges against her will be dropped as well. a spokesman for mayor dixon said she also still faces charges in connection with this case, said the mayor would not be commenting on the new indictments. we'll have much more on the story coming up at 6. >>> thieves hit a brooklyn park

campaign-- campaign finance, a hillary movie, and even though it's clearly a free speech, free political >> yeah, and they seem to have ticked it down with the idea of possibly expanding free speech by restrictions like campaign finance regulations and possibly overturning a previous line of cases dealing with corporate financing of campaign materials. i've seen this movie, by the way, and give it a thumbs down and it's very shrill and unpleasant to watch. >> all right, james, well, we're guessing sonia sotomayor can count on a yes vote. democrat al franken the winner of last year's disputed race giving the democrats the 60th. trailed norm coleman by 25 votes. recount and aggressively demanding that votes that had been disqualified be added to his count while others be denied from mr. coleman and they also had addition al ballots for franken lange. by the time it's over. franken won by 312 votes. it goes to show that modern day elebss don't end when voters cast their ballots, they only end after the lawyers count them. still ahead, a federal judge sets a dangerous precedent clearing the