>> charles grassley is in line for a committee chairmanship.the republican party plays hardball with its members. i think the message got through that he was jeopardizing his standing in the party by playing too nice to health care reform. >> it became clear that the republican game plan was going to be just to say no, to deny this president any victories. >> there was enormous pressure from the republican leadership. they did not want to be part of this. they did not want to make a deal. the word went out. >> you had the senate leadership in mitch mcconnell and john kyl saying, "don't get involved. this is going to be the president's waterloo. it's our way to win back the congress." >> narrator: and as the summer wore on, winning grassley over became harder and harder for baucus. >> the process, particularly in the finance committee, just felt like that race that was being run, starting on january 20, all of a sudden hit some mud, and people's shoes got pretty... pretty soggy and pretty heavy. >> everything kind of bogged down. i mean, here we

let me refer back to senator grassley. mr.grassley: senator hatch, the only thing i would add to the good work you've put out there is maybe to say a little bit more about the estate tax, and that is if we don't do anything -- you can see the house-passethehouse passed deatm but not the senate. and obviously we don't have a final bill. and if we don't get a final bill by the end of this year, instead of having no estate tax this year, or $3.5 million exemption last year, we're going to have only a million-dollar exemption and a -- a 55% tax rate, and that's going to be catastrophic on small business, it's going to be catastrophic in the rural areas. so i hope that emphasizes the importance of getting something done on the estate tax ahead of time. and the only other thing i would add would be, because you did such a good job of saying what the economic consequences are, if we let the biggest tax increase in the history of the country happen by sunset december 31 and then that means you go back to the tax rates and tax policy o

maybe chuck grassley would never have been there. but it distorted the debate. let's hear from patty in minneapolis. republican line. caller: good morning. i'm one of the few people that watch msnbc. you know, it sounds like the same thing here. that they do all day long on msnbc, praising president obama, making excuses. oh, he's got the two camps, and one's telling him to do this and the other is telling him to do that. the guy can't make a decision for one thing. he's never won anything. and you folks didn't do your job when he was running to back him. and all his communist, socialist friends, terrorists, got a who wrote the book about wish they had done more even in the light of 9/11. the other thing i want to say is, why don't you talk about all the czars, van jones, why don't you talk about that? your first clue with premeditate people have when he said he wasn't going to take public donations, when he reneged on that. he says, no, no, he's not going to go with the government funding for the election. that was your first clue he was a big phony. host: you

see whether the old tradition has been ended only on paper or in reality to some are artsy from grassley. bring up today most of top world news stories in brief this friday night haiti's cholera breaks no kill least seven hundred twenty four the disease is spreading fast in the haitian capital and it's heading towards southern regions the country's health minister says rather levon thousand people have been hospitalized since the outbreak u.n. expects to infection rate to rise. a u.n. panel of experts says that north korea's sold nuclear technology and other weapons to states including iran syria. the report says one hundred million dollars worth of arms and other equipment have been shipped the sales go against you and impose sanctions on north korea to try and cause should nuclear activities are tested by the. entire military authorities could free pro-democracy leader aung san suu kyi this weekend of apparently sanction to release which is due on saturday sochi. has been under house arrest for fifteen of the past twenty one years now which is drawn widespread condemnation but the lawy

old tradition has been ended only on paper or in reality to absolutely heart so are our genes from grassley. determine it's time rushes finance minister shares his thoughts on the consequences of any simmering currency conflicts as to come short of them first creative process was dominating the business world this hour. our welcome to the business good to have you with us russia's economy slowed in the third quarter of the gross domestic product rose two point seven percent year on year after expanding five point two percent in the quarter to june the worst drought in fifty years hit crops and forced manufacturers to cut production the economy ministry says the heat wave will cost the country point eight percentage points of growth this year. the g. twenty summit in south korea has struggled to reach agreement on key issues which could affect the recovery of the global economy politicians fail to find common ground on currency devaluations as well as trade imbalances it gave endorsement ahead of research in jones' language so has told us why the country's failed to reach the consensus. diff

the old tradition has been ended only on paper or in reality to tell you what some are artsy from grassley. will use a brief first to haiti the cholera outbreak there is no killed at least seven hundred twenty the disease is spreading fast in the haitian capital and heading towards southern regions now the country's health minister says rather than eleven thousand people have been hospitalized since the outbreak the u.n. expects the infection rate to rise. but you went public expert says that north korea's nuclear technology and other weapons to states including iran and syria. but a poor one hundred million dollars worth of arms and other equipment have been shipped the sales go against you and impose sanctions on north korea to try and question nuclear activities after tested weapons in iraq. as military authorities meantime could free pro-democracy leader saying suchi this weekend have apparently sanction to release which is due on saturday said she's been under house arrest for fifteen. the past twenty one years which is drawing widespread condemnation but a lawyer says she won't accep

tradition has been and is only on paper or angry allegiance to a son of god so are our genes from grassley. here now the latest business update and news today of delays in people getting follow insurance in russia short oh yes after devastating wildfires here this summer president very have called for mandatory fire insurance for every home so leading insurance company says it will take at least two years we have details later in the program but first this hour gas problem with the supply and no less than ten billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to south korea starting in five years time the president of russia supplies to asia just liquefied natural gas in modest volumes but plans delivered to the region as much gas as it says to europe that show where corporate reports. asia imports just one twenty five for gas that russia supplies to europe japan india and south korea receive a billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas from russia by ten. car but their race who dream for growth visiting small head of gas pramod like say miller says these market alone expanding by fifteen per

and that is something check grassley and others have said, we need answers on that.ppointed, recess appointment in july, the first time we're getting questions about what is happening with hip and where he intends to go. watch that, here and now. martha. martha: he has gone from a person of interest to now the lead suspect in the killing of his wife, on their cancun vacation. a hollywood producer, bruand, h has been arrested and he was arrested outside of the l.a. home and mexican authorities wants him back in the country and we'll tell you what will happen next. we'll see. i'm hugh jidette. i'm running for president. if elected promise our 13 trillion dollar debt will double, maybe even triple. i'll continue to ignore our spiraling i'm hugh jidette and i say borrow like there's no tomorrow. when we all become doers. when our mittens double as wk gloves. and we turn every room into a project. but this year, let's trim the budget. get some help from martha stewart that we can't get anywhere else. and spread our money as far as our cheer. ♪ more saving. more doing. tha

want to thank the leaders of both parties for working together, leader reid and others and chuck grassleyt worked together to bring this justice to our nation's black farmers who have been waiting so very, very long. and many -- >> sorry about that. sounds like while you're feeling great relief it has cleared this hurdle and still there's at least one more step beyond that, at the same time, there is this feeling of people, farm here's have waited for more than ten year s now, still have to wait bit longer. are we saying months more or maybe a few more years before they would actually receive a settlement? after the whole arbitration process et cetera? >> six months to a year, to be honest. you know, it's just been so very long, because many black farmers have died at the plow, just died at the plow waiting for justice and cnn has covered even some of these funeral services of farmers who have passed recently. so i see it as a huge step in the right direction and the white house has been onboard in the past couple of weeks work on this. so seems everything is moving in the right direction

maybe chuck grassley would never have been there. but it distorted the debate. host: let's hear from patty in minneapolis. republican line. caller: good morning. i'm one of the few people that watch msnbc. you know, it sounds like the same thing here. that they do all day long on msnbc, praising president obama, making excuses. oh, he's got the two camps, and one's telling him to do this and the other is telling him to do that. the guy can't make a decision for one thing. he's never won anything. and you folks didn't do your job when he was running to back him. and all his communist, socialist friends, terrorists, got a who wrote the book about wish they had done more even in the light of 9/11. the other thing i want to say is, why don't you talk about all the czars, van jones, why don't you talk about that? your first clue with premeditate people have when he said he wasn't going to take public donations, when he reneged on that. he says, no, no, he's not going to go with the government funding for the election. that was your first clue he was a big phony. host

because i view the affordable care act as basically an amalgam of romney care and the durenberger, grassley, dole, chafffey to the clinton plan of '93, '94. this isn't a moderate republican plan or what used to be with a group of people who are now an endangered -- under the endangered species act i suspect. but it will play out through the primaries. what we also know is in the process of going after the democrats' plan or obama's plan, and we are seeing now we've had republicans move into a position of not only defending every dime of medicare spending into perpetuity but also defending the employers and the coverage that they are now providing to people. where the plan that john mccain put at the table, which is has been the core conservative republican plan knocks the pins out from under employer provided coverage by turning that tax deduction into a voucher and then letting people go out and buy insurance. it's moving away from the employer provide system. there's a lot of good substantive reasons to want to do that, but i think what you're going to find as republicans in the process o

i think he tried and he was sincere about that, but once chuck grassley was part of a gang of six of debate and say obama was going to pull the plug on granny during the health care debate, once it's obvious the right was a co-oping, obama needs to go back to his own mobilization and say okay, we're in a turf war here in the trenches and i need my side to come out. now they're saying that with the midterms a month away, but it's not just a switch you can turn on and off. the interesting thing is i think there's some lessons here, the tea party is going that now and i think obama campaign proved it, you can't just take your people for granted. you can't just tell them they're important during the election and ignore them once you're there, that they need, you need to get them involved in some way in your administration that i think it goes both ways which i think a lot of people in the obama movement or the coalition, whatever you want to call it, trusted obama to do the right thing after the election. he will appoint the best people. he knows what's best. presidentpresidents get put

i'm not saying whether senator grassley was right or wrong.i'm saying it is very troubling that you would not be aware of those questions before paying someone the amount of $450,000 a year to do work for the federal government, general fields, that's what i'm getting at. this audit agency is careful about who they hired and whether or not there is any appearance or problem. i'm not saying there's a problem, but the fact you do know there might be one is what i'm trying to bring to your attention. did mr. schmitz ever go to afghanistan? >> not under the contract involving sigar to my knowledge. >> so it is to pay for and that you claim his market value, $45,000 a month did not involve any high risk for mr. schmitz part other than calling lewis freeh's office? >> potentially, correct as far as i know, senator. >> already. >> let me also say, senator, that mr. schmidt is a registered government contract your -- is registered to contract with the government of the united states as far as i understand. >> i see, general, but i think the point i'm

senator grassley. >> dr. berwick, it is not your fault or anybody's fault on what the schedule of the senate is, but there is at least 70 minutes of questioning here and we have both starting at 11:00 so i was wondering if you would commit to it appearing again before the committee, after the thanksgiving break so we would all have a chance to ask questions we want to ask. >> senator, think that is the prerogative of the chair to call a hearing or not. i can't guarantee when we will have another hearing although it is my intention to have a good number of hearings because it is very important for this committee to hear from the administrator about his plans. >> okay. i will go on to the next.. prior to your nomination you lead a group called the institute of health care improvement or i age i. it has numerous health care companies with both clients and donors which give rise to potential conflicts of interest in your new position to help shed some light on these potential conflicts during your initial confirm

chuck grassley was the republican that had a final confrontation with the president. or the president confronts him inside the oval office. they say that this is your plan. this is essentially the policy that you have advocated all of these years. if we give you everything you want to mccann is still supported? and he said in know. he asked for something in return. he said, mr. president, if you go out publicly and say no public option, then i am with you. and the president could not do it. even though there was never going to be a public option. you cannot say that because he would disappoint people like nancy. taking it off the table and that everyone's political options would have been constructed. the public option was a distortion. no one seriously advocated it. i would argue that it actually cost the white house politically. maybe chuck grassley whenever have been there, but it certainly distorted the debate. let's hear from patty in minneapolis. republicaline. caller: good morning. i'm one of the few people that watch msnbc. you know, it sounds like the same th

began in march, 2009 when i joined senator lieberman, senator collins, senator coburn and senator grassley to introduce legislation to give better hiring authority. at that time, general fields had been the cigar for more than seven months and cigar hadn't completed in the original audit or investigative work. this raised serious concerns about the effectiveness at protecting against waste fraud and abuse in afghanistan. even though cigar received additional money and new hiring authorities in the summer of 2009, the organization did not improve. cigar continued to have difficulty in recruiting adequate experienced staff. we learned cigar performed only one contract audit prior to december, 2,009 while devoting time and resources to review subjects outside of its mission like a 2009 review of the role of women in afghanistan elections. we were particularly concerned that cigar was failing to establish the priorities for its work and so in december of 2009 senator collins, senator coburn and i asked the president to conduct a thorough review of cigar in july 2010 the inspector for efficienc

leader reid worked very close will i with senator chuck grassley. good things happen. black farmers who have been waiting so very, very long, and many have died at the plow, kyra, just waiting for this justice. so it was very, very good to get it out of the senate and hopefully we'll be able to reconcile the bill in the house soon, after thanksgiving, and i'm looking forward to working with leaders on both sides, republicans and democrats to bring that long overdue justice to black farmers. >> you bring up a good point. many people haven't lived long enough to see the cash. how much are we talking about? >> $1.25 billion at about $50,000 per farmer. >> that's a nice chunk of change. >> it doesn't put the farmers back into business but what it does do is it give vindication to farmers and bring law long overdue justice. this is about justice. when america is tried, america stands up and does the right thing. that's what happened in the senate. people heard our plight. >> you said you think this will bring the country closer to racial harmony. what do

obviously he agreed and that was t but when ranking member grassley asked dr. berwick if he would commit to appearing before the committee again, which think the doctor would, he is a very affable and personable man. don't agree with him but he is affable and personable -- so we should continue our oversight, chairman baucus interrupted his response and refused to make mi further commitments. how's that for getting to a hearing with the man that is most important man with regard to the new health care law and implementing it? because i was not able to ask him my questions yesterday, i am forced and am asking them here on the senate floor. dr. berwick knows that my number-one concern with president obama's health care law is the enormous potential for the government to interfere with the treatment decisions of the doctor and the patient. dr. berwick has a long history of statements supporting government control of treatment decisions or what i would call rationing. now some would say that's not the case, but dr. berwick has said that -- quote -- "most people who

i noticed charles grassley was up for reelection. these are two respective partisans who are very safe. the senate will not see a massive overhaul at least. that is the body where it is supposed to take longer for things to happen. >> i will stop you there. thank you for your call. we will let you get out to vote. let's hear from a republican in piedmont, south carolina. a lot of attention on that fifth congressional district. he has been in the representatives for more then -- three decades. we will go to stanley. >> can you hear me? >> we sure can. >> i had to vote split ticket. i could not vote for nikki haley for governor because of the controversy and her being supposedly hand-picked. it looks like she is going to win. i did vote republican in several races. i hope this turns republican in the congress. >> thank you for your call. >> the district that was mentioned there -- john spratt, the chairman of the house budget committee -- this is a huge race. it is going to be very telling in terms of how large this wave is going to be

senator reid encouraged, supported, and allowed senator max baucus to negotiate with the senator grassley over a health care bill for close to nine months, if memory serves. so it is, the -- the only just cannot get to a bipartisan deal. but i do think harry reid has been very clear after this election that he recognizes the imperative for bipartisanship is even greater now that democrats hold fewer seats. he is a principled guy but a pragmatist. i did what you will see in the next two years is boehner, reid, and obama administration striving mightily to find common ground. democrat line from milton, west virginia. caller: i talked to democrats around here. i know there are a lot of blue dogs here. but the biggest thing that we saw, we need our democrats with more backbone. a when they go into conference -- when they go into conference to debate these bills, you don't give up on the public option before you even go into conference. the public option in january was 79% approval. they took it off the table before they went into conference. these are the issues. just like on the financial re

we have an excellent chairman, chairman baucus and senator grassley, they have already had one hearing on this issue. there is a lot to work with here on this tax reform issue. and by the way, there is another group in addition to erskin bowles and alan simpson who have weighed in essentially behind the idea senator gregg and i are talking about. president obama had a tax reform commission that recently came in. it was chaired by the distinguished paul volcker that made a very substantial case for simplifying the tax code to ease the burden on workers and families and businesses. senator gregg and i looked at the volcker commission proposals, ending the alternative minimum tax, increasing the standard deduction, consolidating the incentives for savings and retirement, allowing taxpayers to ask the i.r.s. to fill out their tax forms for them. those were all recommendations by president obama's commission, the volcker commission, that are part of the proposal that senator gregg and i have put together, s. 3018. get rid of loopholes, get rid of the giveaways to the special interests, and

they threw in the amt release for chuck grassley and a lot of good that did them. the health care bill, people talk about government takeover and how this was a liberal pill. just as the liberals how liberal it was. i cover the 94 health care debate. that will that past is so similar. if you don't have to take my word for it. they will tell you. republicans in the senate, bob dole, john chaffee and 21 other senate republicans cosponsored a bill that is practically within individual mandate. that was their alternative to the democrats employer mandate. the fiscal commission. you have the mcconnell staff and where mitch mcconnell and seven other republicans in the senate who had once cosponsored the idea of a fiscal commission in voted against the plan the idea that democrats and financial regulation. again and arguably moderate hill, just as the liberal democrat and one that i think there was some work in the senate, could have been more involving republicans. but i know from two republican senators that on the banking committee that when they thought they had a dea

senator reid encouraged, supported, and allowed senator max baucus to negotiate with the senator grassley over a health care bill for close to nine months, if memory serves. so it is, the -- the only just cannot get to a bipartisan deal. but i do think harry reid has been very clear after this election that he recognizes the imperative for bipartisanship is even greater now that democrats hold fewer seats. he is a principled guy but a pragmatist. i did what you will see in the next two years is boehner, reid, and obama administration striving mightily to find common ground. democrat line from milton, west virginia. caller: i talked to democrats around here. i know there are a lot of blue dogs here. but the biggest thing that we saw, we need our democrats with more backbone. a when they go into conference -- when they go into conference to debate these bills, you don't give up on the public option before you even go into conference. the public option in january was 79% approval. they took it off the table before they went into conference. these are the issues. just like on the financial re

because i view the affordable care act as basically an amalgam of romney care and the durenberger, grassley, dole, chafffey to the clinton plan of '93, '94. this isn't a moderate republican plan or what used to be with a group of people who are now an endangered -- under the endangered species act i suspect. but it will play out through the primaries. what we also know is in the process of going after the democrats' plan or obama's plan, and we are seeing now we've had republicans move into a position of not only defending every dime of medicare spending into perpetuity but also defending the employers and the coverage that they are now providing to people. where the plan that john mccain put at the table, which is has been the core conservative republican plan knocks the pins out from under employer provided coverage by turning that tax deduction into a voucher and then letting people go out and buy insurance. it's moving away from the employer provide system. there's a lot of good substantive reasons to want to do that, but i think what you're going to find as republicans in the process o

they threw in the amt release for chuck grassley and a lot of good that did them. the health care bill, people talk about government takeover and how this was a liberal pill. just as the liberals how liberal it was. i cover the 94 health care debate. that will that past is so similar. if you don't have to take my word for it. they will tell you. republicans in the senate, bob dole, john chaffee and 21 other senate republicans cosponsored a bill that is practically within individual mandate. that was their alternative to the democrats employer mandate. the fiscal commission. you have the mcconnell staff and where mitch mcconnell and seven other republicans in the senate who had once cosponsored the idea of a fiscal commission in voted against the plan the idea that democrats and financial regulation. again and arguably moderate hill, just as the liberal democrat and one that i think there was some work in the senate, could have been more involving republicans. but i know from two republican senators that on the banking committee that when they thought they had a dea

that in preparation for this hearing, we did basic, investigatory were, and we found that senator grassley had a lot of questions about mr. schmidt when he was inspector general. i am not saying whether the senator was right or wrong, i am saying it is very troubling that you would not be aware of those questions before paying someone the amount of $450,000 a year to do work for the federal government, general fields. that is what i am getting at. this audit agency is careful about who they hire at, and whether there is an appearance of a problem. i am not saying there is a problem, but the fact you did not know there could be one, is what i'm trying to bring to your attention. did mr. schmidt ever go to afghanistan? >> not under the contract involving sigar, to my knowledge. >> the pay, that you claim is market value, the $45,000 on month, did not require any high risk and mr. schmidt's part, other than calling lists free's office. >> potentially, correct, as far as i know, senator. let me say that mr. schmidt is a registered government contractor, as far as i understand. >> i am understa

senators conrad and grassley called for a fie five-year extension of the ethanol tax credit and i supportedslation. senator johnson and i introduced the securing america's future with energy and sustainable technologies, the safest act, with similar provisions calling for an extension of the tax credit. but it also includes a strong renewable energy standard, something that we need in this country, something senator snowe and i have worked on. i see senator kerry from massachusetts here, who has devoted the last year in focusing on alternative energy and ways to focus on our homegrown energy industry. now i know that this ethanol tax credit won't always be necessary. that's why i've also been working to develop a new, more cost-effective tax credit that would replace the existing v-tech credit and would more directly benefit and focus on the farmers who are growing our transportation fuel. no one is denying that we can improve this tax credit to make it even more effective with investments in alternative fuel. but the private investors with billions of dollars in capital need to know that o

maybe chuck grassley would never have been there. but it distorted the debate. host: let's hear from patty in minneapolis. republican line. caller: good morning. i'm one of the few people that watch msnbc. you know, it sounds like the same thing here. that they do all day long on msnbc, praising president obama, making excuses. oh, he's got the two camps, and one's telling him to do this and the other is telling him to do that. the guy can't make a decision for one thing. he's never won anything. and you folks didn't do your job when he was running to back him. and all his communist, socialist friends, terrorists, got a who wrote the book about wish they had done more even in the light of 9/11. the other thing i want to say is, why don't you talk about all the czars, van jones, why don't you talk about that? your first clue with premeditate people have when he said he wasn't going to take public donations, when he reneged on that. he says, no, no, he's not going to go with the government funding for the election. that was your first clue he was a big phony. host

i'm not saying whether senator grassley was right or wrong.i'm saying it is very troubling that you would not be aware of those questions before paying someone the amount of $450,000 a year to do work for the federal government, general fields, that's what i'm getting at. this audit agency is careful about who they hired and whether or not there is any appearance or problem. i'm not saying there's a problem, but the fact you do know there might be one is what i'm trying to bring to your attention. did mr. schmitz ever go to afghanistan? >> not under the contract involving sigar to my knowledge. >> so it is to pay for and that you claim his market value, $45,000 a month did not involve any high risk for mr. schmitz part other than calling lewis freeh's office? >> potentially, correct as far as i know, senator. >> already. >> let me also say, senator, that mr. schmidt is a registered government contract your -- is registered to contract with the government of the united states as far as i understand. >> i see, general, but i think the point i'm

because i view the affordable care act as basically an amalgam of romney care and the durenberger, grassley, dole, chafffey to the clinton plan of '93, '94. this isn't a moderate republican plan or what used to be with a group of people who are now an endangered -- under the endangered species act i suspect. but it will play out through the primaries. what we also know is in the process of going after the democrats' plan or obama's plan, and we are seeing now we've had republicans move into a position of not only defending every dime of medicare spending into perpetuity but also defending the employers and the coverage that they are now providing to people. where the plan that john mccain put at the table, which is has been the core conservative republican plan knocks the pins out from under employer provided coverage by turning that tax deduction into a voucher and then letting people go out and buy insurance. it's moving away from the employer provide system. there's a lot of good substantive reasons to want to do that, but i think what you're going to find as republicans in the process o