host: the houston chronicle wrote that to boost participation, the new benefit contains an opt out provision, meaning employees at companies to offer it will be enrolled automatically unless they opt out. some estimated that only about 8 million u.s. residents carry that coverage so far. what is your best case scenario under the numbers of this federal plan? guest: i believe the cbo studies showed a minimal participation, which is good. because they took a conservative approach to it. if there were a number of consumer advocacy organizations that supported class, which was unprecedented. the more people that by this, tomorrow -- to lower the premiums would be no more -- would be and the more lower medicare premiums would be. host: does this create a new agency or department in the government? guest: it obviously creates an oversight body for the money. the secretary sets up an independent advisory council -- host: health secretary. guest: that is right, hhs secretary, and there would be a mechanism in place to determine some as lovell of disability. there are tools and mechanisms to do that.

host: 4 "the houston chronicle" the oil rig explosion is front- page news. later on in the program, we will talk to the lead republican on the house energy committee and ask him if he agrees with "the wall street journal" front page story that suggest that the oil rigs may change the debate in this country over offshore drilling. the next phone call as we talk about the vat tax is john in georgia -- excuse me, joan, you are on the air. caller: when you add in all the legal -- all the legillegals, green cards, visa -- they do not pay american taxes, but they're also receiving federal benefits. if they had to pay the vat tax, just think about the billions of dollars we would get in five years. host: next up is a call from detroit, michigan. this is paul. you are on the air. we learned earlier that michigan has a business person of this that it instituted in the last decade. do you have any experience with it? caller: i have never supported any tax from the time i started voting at age 18. i have never supported any type of tax. if you continue to pay taxes, if

couple voices from the heartland john gallagher and lauren stefy, business columnist at "the houston chronicle." welcome to you both. without getting into the intricacies of the build america's bonds program which is an eye glazing exercise, if ever there was one. does it surprise either of you that two of the nation's most populous states, the largest states in the country, i ges with texas in there, as well, are the biggest issuers of these bonds? should we be surprised by that? jump all, go ahead. >> well, no, i don't think it's surprising. i mean, these are the states that have a big chunk of the population and it's sort of understandable that they would be the ones to ramp up the in a infrastructure projects that these bonds are helping to finance. >> a highway in new york is going to be far bigger than some highway somewhere else in the country. the infrastructure for 10 million people is bigger than a state with a few million people. >> i don't think you'll see as much of a need for highway projects in iowa or things like that as you are in los angeles. >> john, is this really a case of

here is open with the houston chronicle" following another story that has all the other story concerning therig workers, the 11 who died. this bill is being called very serious -- 4,200 gallons per day are spilling. it could take months to stop that flow. we're joined by teresa from las vegas. she is on the independent line. caller: good morning. i have been watching the oversight hearings. i have been watching some of the great book reviews written on this. i totally agree with senator brown. in the bank too big to fail is too big to exist -- any bank. watching the oversight hearings there is only one question, one answer that seemed to come from hours and hours -- what did they have e-mail's all this evidence? why did they do what they did? because they can. nobody is minding the store. nobody has been minding the store for a long time. it seems putting a new name and a new label on the same agencies, same people will not give the government -- the government does not have the will to oversee -- i do not know what can change. the other thing that does it stand out is some of these prod

"the houston chronicle." we are now learning that the leak boosts the oil flow and digesting the news reports this morning that the current flow of oil from uncap the well is five times what was or originally projected. that continues to grow as a problem off the coast. i want to show you the three capitol hill newspapers because they each tell a bit of legislative story coming ahead on the climate bill and legislation. "that bill" tells us quite a bill will come before immigration -- "the hill." there was a walk off from lindsey graham of south carolina, insisting the move -- to move on climate and energy before immigration. then we move on to "roll call" senate democrats did it for strategy for moving ahead without gop support. finally, "politico," democrat seeks new republican on immigration. the effort is an attempt by majority leader harry reid to get around the road block caused by lindsey graham. they are looking for an advocate and hopes to attract the republicans wanted to replace him. three aspects