i commend leader hoyer, mr. spratt and the others for bringing this important legislation to the floor. let's say to our children and grandchildren, we're going to take some responsibility. the buck stops here. let's stop passing on our problems to the next generation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i would like to three minutes to the the gentleman from california, mr. lungren. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. lungren: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, when i returned to this house chamber in 2005, it was obvious to me that we were spending too much money on the federal level. it was obvious to me that uncle sam needed a diet at that time. but at this time, it is even worse. we need what i would call a gastrobypass. and instead, what do you bring to the floor? you bring us cosmetic surgery and fiscal face lift. it looks good, but there's nothing behind the mask. look at the figures. sinc

steny hoyer is next. an obama facing his first task -- fighting to take control of new jersey economically. one guy is not there. 5 ú welcome to the now network. population 49 million. right now, 1.5 million people are on a conference call. 750,000 wish they weren't. - ( phones chirping ) - construction workers are making 244,000 nextel direct connect calls. 1 million people are responding to an email. - 151 accidentally hit "reply all." - ( foghorn blows ) that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network bringing you the first wireless 4g network. - sprint. the now network. - ( whoosh sound ) deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. - sprint. the now network. - ( whoosh sound ) ♪ ♪ which one's me - for a cool convertible or an suv? ♪ ♪ too bad i didn't know my credit was whack ♪ ♪ 'cause now i'm driving off the lot in a used sub-compact. ♪ ♪ f-r-e-e, that spells free credit report dot com, baby. ♪ ♪ saw their ads on my tv ♪ thought about going but

start with you, congressman hoyer. how's it going? >> i think this has been the most productive six months i've served in the congress of the united states. i think the president put down the program and the congress has supported the program which is responsive to what the american people wanted. they wanted change. they wanted us to address the economy. we've done that. they wanted us to address energy. we've done that to make ourselves independent and secure, provide for cheaper energy, and addressing the climate challenge that confronts our country. we're also going to address the issue and have addressed the issue of education. so we're doing what the american people asked us to do. >> congressman boehner. >> chris, it's been nothing short of breathtaking. this giant move to build more government here in washington, to take more money from the american people, and at the end of the day, what we're going to end up with is higher taxes, bigger government and less freedom for the american people. it's breathtaking, this big move to

joining me now for all of that is steny hoyer. thanks for being with us tonight. >> are you losing the pr war on health care in this country? >> i think the american public has been watching a part of the debate both in the senate and the house and they see a lot of different opinions. but i think they understand and that poll reflects it that a, they want a health care reform bill. 94% of them you say are concerned that we won't get the job done. i want to assure them we're going to get the job done. and as you said, a little earlier, we made significant progress last night. the energy and commerce committee is back at the table marking up their bill. they're the third committee, the final committee to mark up the bill in the house. then we expect to take the month of august dork a lot of hard work, look at this, have the american public look at this. give us their input. we expect to come back here after halftime and score a touchdown for the american and give them health care they can count on. >> this is going to be a brutal h

hoyer: mr. hill, i was a co-sponsor of that, as a matter of fact i introduced the bill. mr. hill was a sponsor along with a number of others including mr. scott of virginia, your colleague from virginia. a co-sponsor of that bill. and mr. miller from california, a co-sponsor that have bill, and mr. welch from vermont, a pretty broad spectrum of our membership, indicating that there is a real commitment to pay as you go. we believe that's an important principle. we also, as i'm sure the gentleman knows, pay-go was first adopted in 1990 as a result of a conference that was held out at andrews air force baste. someone was representing president bush. he was then the head of o.m.b. and there was a bipartisan agreement to acosmopolitan cosmopolitan the stat toit -- to adopt the statutory pay-go and we did that. in 1997 mr. gingrich and mr. clinton entered into an agreement on a statutory pay-go and then we passed in a bipartisan way in 1997. when it was to be re-authorized in 2002 and 2003 it was all

hoyer hoyer as i said, i think we will have a -- mr. hoyer: as i said i think we will have a rule as we did in the previous 11. as i said, i believe we will be considering the defense bill under rules similar to those which have led to the passage of the 11 other bills. i yield back. mr. cantor: i say to the gentleman, obviously with much disappointment and i think really reflecting the disappointment on the part of the american people that we should be having a much morrow bus debate on these issues. certainly if we are going to be addressing the issue of health care and the gentleman says his side is insisting on rushing that to the floor and insisting on some political deadline and i don't understand why it is we couldn't have an open debate on >> now an event with john conyers where he talks about the arrest of henry louis gates, jr., and this is 45 minutes. welcome to the national press club. we're committed to a future of journalism by providing informative programming and journalism education and fostering a free press worldwide.

hoyer. i am proud indeed to be here with my great colleagues who have worked so hard on this undertaking. and i'm delighted to be a participant in this great undertaking. as mentioned this is the first time we have gotten to this point. we're going to cover every american. we're going to see to it that they have choice. we're going to see to it that not only are the humanitarian concerns of people with regard to healthcare met but that an economic calamity will be headed off because of the work that has been done today. this is a good bill. it is a uniquely american solution to address the insecurities in healthcare felt by the american people. the burden of cost of healthcare has been placed on the economy. and the competitive disadvantages experienced by our businesses will be removed. today it marks a major step in this long journey of ours. however, it is not the last step. and while we greet this day with delight, we know that we have a lot of work before us. my old dad would be pleased

democrat hoyer is the pagity leader and republican john boehner is the min minority le.>> the obama administration said it would keep unemployment below 8% and we now learned it is now 9.5% and the republicans put out a video about a bloodhound searching for sim luciana jobs. let's watch. -- for stimulus jobs. let's watch. >> finally the dogs tracked down something. in north carolina. they used stimulus money to hire one new state worker. his job, apply for more stimulus money for the taxpayers by the way of the federal government. >> congressman hoyer can you honestly say you are satisfied with the stimulus? >> i don't think anybody can say we are satisfied with the results of the stimulus be we believe it was essential. mark zande said it is going to create two million jobs by the end of next year. >> why hasn't it done more faster? >> we are disappointed if hasn't done more faster. john and i were talking about getting money out more quickly. we need to do that. we are disappointed. after all the ad is being run bay crowd that created about four thousand jobs per mont

hoyer: mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today -- the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland rise? mr. hoyer: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: yes, sir. mr. hoyer: i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on monday next for morning hour debate. when the house adjourns on that it adjourn to meet on 10:30 a.m., july 14, 2009, for morning hour debate. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. to what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? mr. serrano: mr. speaker, speaking about appropriations, by direction of the committee on appropriations, i present a privileged report for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: report to accompany h.r. 3170, a bill making appropriations for financial services and general government for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2010, and for other purposes. the spe

. >> leader hoyer, does that dovetail with his agenda? >> yes, it does. >> let me ask you about the blue dog democrats and when they say thief got a release from representative ross about where they stand and what do they want and will they get some semblance of what they want. >> well, i think they are very interested in passing health care reform. all of them have indicated publicly they want to vote for a health care reform bill. they know american people said want that and that's what they want. they're working towards trying to get some of the things they think are important in the bill. >> such as? >> in terms of cost containment, they want to make sure in fact we're bringing costs down in the health care system. they want to make sure that the provider community is compensated properly. they want to make sure that the disparities in reimbursement around the country are addressed in the bill. they to make sure that we get rid of waste, fraud and abuse, which all of us want to look the at. >> but they're not drawing a line in the san

there you go, steny hoyer and nancy pelosi.re two parts of the democratic party, the ones who want to push it through, and the blue-dog democrats, the more corporate-american-oriented democrats. anyway, that budget is not for this either, so there you go. we do not have any more information, though we hoped we would -- that a bunchç -- that bunch is not for this either. we have another email for you regarding michael vick. "any nfl team that hires them ought to know how angry people are -- hires himç." "there are far worse people walking around today than michael vick." "mr. roger goodell was making a good call to kick him out, and this race is everything. vick does not deserve this." "i think the commish got this right.

hoyer. >> thank you very much, madam speaker. thank you for your leadership on this issue and so many others. there are certain things that are a necessity for all of us. clean air, to breathe. water to drink, food to meet -- eat, and our help. those are the essentials that we're going have quality of life. the first two are needed for life, period. we are discussing all of those issues. clean air, we passed an energy bill. we passed it in the timeframe in which we said we would pass it. it is now on the senate and hopefully that will pass it soon and we will have conference on that issue. we are now addressing health care which as i said is a necessity for all of our families. reforming health care is an economic imperative. it is a budget imperative and a moral imperative. it is an economic imperative because health insurance premiums have more than doubled since 2000, straining family budgets across america. with our company spending twice as much on health care as our foreign competitors, the cost of health care translates in

hoyer.so i would suggest that we probably won't do this again because you'll probably take away this advantage that we have of using these one minutes to make our case before the american people. i assume we will have the last day we will have unlimited one minutes. but i can promise you if you go back to the open rules process on the appropriations bills we'll gladly not use these unlimited one minutes this way. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will kindly remind members their remarks in debate should be directed to the chair. for what purpose does the gentleman from nevada rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. heller: thank you very much, mr. speaker. in a recent study, nevada's economy is one of the most distressed in the nation. if you recall four months ago we passed a stimulus package and we were promised by this administration and the majority if we do this, if we pass this stimul

>> congressman hoyer -- >> can i add this?resident also suggested and we are pursuing very substantial efforts to cut out waste, fraud and abuse in the present system and to effect efficiencies in medicare and medicaid to save over half a trillion dollars. >> peggy? >> let me ask, congressman hoyer, peggy noonan here -- >> hi, be peggy. >> good morning. is there any sense, congressman privately expressed among democrats in the congress, the house and the senate, that they would have actually quietly preferred it if the president had decided in the past few months to focus solely on the economy, economic bills, economic issues, winning over the public on his economic stand and not introducing a brand-new scheme called health care? is that ever privately expressed? is there any sense of that up there? >> with all due respect, there's no brand-new scheme here on health care. as you know for six decades presidents have been trying to effect health care reform to make sure all americans had access to health care, so this is not new

here is the leader steny hoyer. >> is obvious that we will not have a bill on the floor this week. the probability is we will not have a bill on the floor until next month -- excuse me, september. we are still talking about that. progress is being made. it has been very positive progress. the senate is marking up as well. we think health care reform is taking another step. there will be a lot of time to review where we are and make sure we're doing this bill in any position that will be beneficial to the american bible and to our country. to bring costs down, and make sure that every person -- it will be beneficial to the american people and to our country. as i said, we're having discussions. i am hopeful that this will move the bill forward. that is our intent, to provide for a context for which we can get health care reform done when we come back after the august break. martha: hopefully that cleared up some things. let's bring in james rosen on capitol hill. there are so many different moving parts in this plan. it is very difficult for americans to get a handle on exactly what

. >> [inaudible] >> well i think steny hoyer said yes we will. >> yes we will. george, you want to speak to that? >> i concur with what chairman rangel said. that for about our very long 20 hour markup, we accepted a number of amendments from the republicans. we worked out arrangements to work on amendments we did not accept but we thought had merit and they thought had merit. the staffs are getting together to do that, so i am not sure they ever ended up voting for the kind of health care president obama has presented to the nation, the kind of securities presented, the kind of cost cutting he's presented, the kinds of getting rid of all of the exclusions and co-payments and the rest. but the point is this: our members are in full force to come to the floor and to support this legislation and they will report for duty the time that vote is taken. >> [inaudible] >> we are -- mr. waxman will report his bill the middle of next week and then we will be preparing for our role to take the bill to the floor. when the american people see what this means for them and ea

hoyer hoyer as i said, i think we will have a -- mr. hoyer: as i said i think we will have a rule as we did in the previous 11. as i said, i believe we will be considering the defense bill under rules similar to those which have led to the passage of the 11 other bills. i yield back. mr. cantor: i say to the gentleman, obviously with much disappointment and i think really reflecting the disappointment on the part of the american people that we should be having a much morrow bus debate on these issues. certainly if we are going to be addressing the issue of health care and the gentleman says his side is insisting on rushing that to the floor and insisting on some political deadline and i don't understand why it is we couldn't have an open debate on some of the other issues if we all want to vote for health care reform. we think we will pass a very good health care reform bill. we made very significant progress last night. one person moderated and solicited the opinions of members on the medicare reimbursement rates. the regional -- -- th

the house majority leader steny hoyer yesterday suggested that the democrats in the house may stay a few extra days if they're that close. if they're close enough to get this to the floor and have a vote, they may stay. i think he suggested august 4th, which is a few days later. the house is supposed to get out on july the 31th. in the senate, no. they're looking to leave on august 7th. they're going to vote on the de. >> dave niehaus: of sonia sotomayor. maybe a couple of days, i don't see them staying through august and if they did, they may have a wholesale revolt. i don't think tensions are going to wane any more than they are. >> no one wants to tick you off. >> you know, really. >> really. okay, thanks so much. >> thanks, alex. >>> and for the latest developments on the battle, logon to our website. >>> let's go to wall street. friday, the dow closed about 9,000 for the second day in a row. and good news for the housing department this week. sales of existing home sales shot up, taking three months in a row of gains. amanda of "money" is here. this is good, right? the first tim

hoyer, important leader and organizing and coordinating this effort, mr. clyburn, our distinguished whip, mr. larson the chair of the caucus, mr. ba sarah the vice chair, mr. van holland wears two leadership hats in assistant to the speaker and chair of the d.c. cc. in addition to that the chairs of the subcommittee who have worked very hard on this bringing their extensive knowledge and experience in health care and health care insurance reform, chairman stark of the ways and means committee, chairman andrews of education and labor and chairman malone of the education -- of the energy and commerce committee. have i acknowledged everyone? i can acknowledge everyone in the caucus. this has been such a joint effort. over the coming weeks, congress will continue working with president obama to make health care reform work for middle class americans. this bill is a starting point and a path to success. . to lower costs for consumers and businesses to give greater choice to americans, including keeping your plan, your doctor and plan if you like them, better qu

house democrats announced a plan to rein and the growth of medicare and steny hoyer is giving up in the policy -- leaving open the possibility that they will discuss the policies further. yesterday, senate leaders said a vote would not happen before the break there. >>> president obama announced more than $4 billion of education funding would be awarded to states on a competitive basis. they have to pass national standards, like the teachers' pay to student performance, and hire and fire teachers regardless of tenure. the teachers association supports the plan. >>> michelle obama won an award at the white house today. >> i love the artistic and scientific complexity that becomes useful. >> during the event, the first lady said she spends a lot of time on her laptop. she was addressing one of the creators of the first laptop and she said the first daughters would die without theirs. >>> coming up -- an alert about facebook. what they want you to do with your profile pictures. and you just saw the special on oil in america. do experts expect prices to go up or down? >> what is the truth a

steny hoyer came out and said the august deadline may not happen. [captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- by the way, welcome to the show. when you talk about the brass tacks of how to get it done, how much it will cost, whether a bill will go anywhere, the president addressed none of those famous. trace: it would come on the heels of a major speech given by the house energy committee. they were writing the bill, going line by line and rejecting or accepting the amendments. today they said we are putting this on hold and they have no idea of the time line. it is on hold indefinitely as they do not believe they have the votes in committee. that means that they do not have the votes in the house, right, mike emanuel? >> that is right. you just heard the president speak about health care reform. he is talking about where he sees the agreement on issues. much of the news coverage right now is focused on where he is seeing push back. steny hoyer says he does not believe that it will

joining us is the majority leader steny hoyer wnd the minority whip eric cantor. thanks for coming in. >> you're welcome. >> good to be with you, wolf. >> let's go through some of the major points of contention, see if we can find common ground between the two of you. on the issue of a public option, as it's called, congressman hoyer, a government health insurance company, if you will, that would compete with private health insurance companies, is that a done deal as far as the democrats are concerned, or are you willing to back away from it? >> i think there's still discussion about that, but i think there's going to be a public option in the house bill. i hope there is. i think there will be. we think there needs to be an alternative for individuals and of course the republicans when they pass prescription drugs also had an alternative but there was the possibility of a public option in their own bill. we think it's important to keep it in there to keep the insurance companies honest, if you will. >> if there's a public option, a government health insurance comp

steny hoyer. [applause] >> before i speak, i would be pleased to yield to the whip if he would like to say something. >> [inaudible] >> madam speaker. congratulations to you for your single-minded focus, for your purposeful direction on all of us to work together to accomplish this goal. six decades we have been trying to make sure that every american has the availability of quality affordable health care. six decades. there has been a dingell in every decade. [applause] john dingell, we owe a great deal of gratitude to your father. your father was a leader on health care and you have been a leader in health care. to henry waxman, george miller, charles rangel, to whom i have worked with. we must come together to produce a product for the american people. president obama has issued a very strong statement of how pleased he is that this product is being put on the table. it will be marked up later this week and perhaps into next week. we enter a process of improvement. this is not to the original d

hoyer hoyer as i said, i think we will have a -- mr.oyer: as i said i think we will have a rule as we did in the previous 11. as i said, i believe we will be considering the defense bill under rules similar to those which have led to the passage of the 11 other bills. i yield back. mr. cantor: i say to the gentleman, obviously with much disappointment and i think really reflecting the disappointment on the part of the american people that we should be having a much morrow bus debate on these issues. certainly if we are going to be addressing the issue of health care and the gentleman says his side is insisting on rushing that to the floor and insisting on some political deadline and i don't understand why it is we couldn't have an open debate on some of the other issues if we are going to be waiting until next monday. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m

. >> house majority leaders denny hoyer acknowledged democrats are struggling trying to reach an agreementthe health care proposals. he hopes they don't have to stay in session after the official start of their august recess. he didn't rule it out. democrats today canceled their mark up session on the bill. they ended up at the white house, meeting with the president who was lobbying them to move ahead with the work that's now obviously being delayed. democrats on capitol hill continue their efforts to reach a deal. they're trying desperately to neat that deadline. there are so many major differences on how to pay for the plan, the possibility of a public option to compete with private insurance plans, a host of other issues. candy crowley has our report from washington. >> reporter: behind closed doors senate moderates, republicans and democrats are struggling to find a health care program. a president looking for reinforcement, complaining that unnamed critics are trying to kill his efforts. >> these opponents of reform would rather score political points than offer relief to americans w

should we believe nancy pelosi or listen to steny hoyer? are they going to get something passed before the august recess or what? >> well, i'm not quite sure where you heard that leader hoyer is thinking we may not vote. i just came from his office and we're very much on track to vote next week. we're working diligently towards making sure that we have a comprehensive understanding of the proposed legislation, want to make sure that we can cover all americans, make sure that if people have -- like the insurance they have now, they can keep what they have and make sure we can make insurance guarantee issue and make sure people can't be excluded from having a pre-existing condition and make this nation healthier from a nation focused approach. >> is there anything having come from the leaders office, is there anything in the legislation you expect you'll be voting on that is new or that is different than the ideas already been floated? >> well, it's an ever-evolving process because we do have you know, a very large caucus, a lot of members th

hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding.he status of the health bill as i think the gentleman knows is it's still in the energy and commerce committee. the energy and commerce committee has not reported out that bill. i don't know the speaker's commitment, but certainly the speaker and i both had the hope that we would be able to pass the health care bill by the time we left here on the 31st of july. my view is that this point in time that may not be possible. however, that does not mean necessarily that we won't be here perhaps longer. i hope that's not the case, but if it proves to be necessary, we may be here a either longer, either on a saturday or the third or the fourth. i don't want anybody to be planning on that at this point in time, but currently the status of the bill is it's still in the energy and commerce committee. mr. cantor: i thank the gentleman. mr. speaker, i'd ask the gentleman again for some clarification. did i just hear the gentleman say that we will not be considering the health care bill this week?

house majority leader steny hoyer says congress needs to be open to taking additional action, but senate majority leader harry reid says 90% of february's stimulus mop ny hasn't been spent yet. >> there is no showing to me that another stimulus is needed. >> republicans bristleed at the thought of a second stimulus package. >> down home, we used to say there is no education in the second kick of a mule. >> they think the first bill was poorly written. the largest portion is devoted to infrastructure improvements like road construction and energy efficiency, things that take the longest time to make jobs. the small sefts devoted to tax cuts which get money into the economy faster. >> a second stimulus is a worse idea than the first stimulus, which has been demonstrably proven to have failed. >> it is clearly counterproductive if it is just simply going to add to the debt. >> still, economists don't necessarily find the jobs numbers disappointing. >> i think now we have lost 2.1 million jobs in the first quarter. 1.3 million in the second, and the stimulus is working reasonably well. we sh

. >> earlier today, house majority leader and maryland democrat hoyer revealed lawmakers could remain in washington during part of august to work on a health care bill. but other members of congress are preparing for more delays on the president's promise reform. courtney keley has more. >> the choice is clear, doing nothing is defending the status quo. and i am not going to stand for future where health care premiums raise three times faster than wages. >> president may have to stand for more delays on health care. appears the senate will not have a health care bill before the august recess. >> we have a long way to go over the next couple of weeks, and months. >> the house bill may still be in play. the bill would have to be taken out of committee where it is stalled. and brought to the floor for a vote. but a divided democratic caucus may keep the bill from passing. gite a closed door meeting earlier in the week with the president. blue dog democrats are signaling they do not have a agreement with the white house or democrats. republican message has been clear and consistent. slow

i talked with steny hoyer who seem add little surprised. he was saying that is among the options that we could look at. but clearly they are changing the rules mid game and i'm not here to debate the pros and cons of the hike but when you say it is one thing and take it for other things where is this going? >> she opened the co-momono and said what they plan to do. it is not -- taxes are not going up to pay for healthcare. they are going to go up, period, because this government is spending twice what it is taking in in tax revenue and in order to shrink the deficit they will raise taxes. and i will admit right here i was dead wrong. i said tax rates -- the highest rate won't go up beyond the clinton era levels. but it is because under this plan it will go up 10 percentage points just at the federal level. factor in state taxes you are looking at close to 60% taken by the government if you live in some states. >> adam, i know you are a big fan of everybody paying taxes. if you had it your way they would pay everything to taxes -- i'm joking

well, house majority leader steny hoyer is also in agreement that congress cannot basically take anything to taking additional action. obviously, you can sense that republicans are against this, and even the senate majority leader, harry reid has said he doesn't see a need right now for another stimulus package, but what about this? at least the newest polls show that americans oppose a stimulus package, a second stimulus package by a percentage of 60% to 27%. not sure about 13%. that is from a rasmussen poll. let's bring in the panel. juan williams, nina easton, and syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. juan, the possibility of a second stimulus package? >> i think it would be disastrous for the administration but you can understand why the president would want to say to people having trouble holding on to jobs, worried about getting another job or unemployed that he is sensitive to their needs. now, the problem here is that if you look at it, you know, vice president biden saying that the administration wasn't aware of the problem, and the depth of the economic trouble that it was g

hoyer, for five minutes. mr. hoyer: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hoyer: thank you very much, mr. speaker. ladies and gentlemen of the house, this week the house will debate legislation to give the principle of pay-as-you-go or pay-go the force of law. quite simply, supporting pay-go means that we agree to pay for what we buy. and if it can be one of the most important actions we take for fiscal discipline in this congress. pay-go is essential because america faces unprecedented debt and a fiscal year 2009 deficit of $1.7 trillion. a "new york times" analysis found that 90% of that deficit is attributeable to the downturn, bush administration policies and the extension of those policies. but however we got into this hole it's imperative that we find a way out of it. pay-go is not a cure all. , not a solution entirely to our deficits but it is an important and valuable start. and it is a proven first step to deficit reduction. in the 1990's, the clinton administration took record deficits accumulated by

steny hoyer says all types of democrats are voicing concerns, not just the more conservative ones. >>> as lawmakers struggle with the price of the president's health care plan, a new report says financial bailout costs could make health care look like no big deal. the report says the government's maximum exposure could reach nearly $24 trillion. that's a worst case scenario. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says things could be looking up for the economy, but we aren't out of the woods yet. in the meantime, republicans and democrats are demanding answers. >> today we'll hear all we're not getting is transparency. >> the taxpayers now have a $700 billion spending program that is being run under the philosophy of don't ask don't tell. >> in a report obtained by abc news, tarp leaders predict total federal government support could reach a massive $23.7 trillion. >>> things are starting to bubble with the atmosphere. let me show you what is going on right now with maryland's most powerful radar. right now we're seeing the majority of the rainfall out to the west of us, out in portion

here is -- let's hear steny hoyer and john boehner.esting debate with chris wallace, and you were there yesterday. >> we've got to understand we inherited 2 million jobs being lost in the three months before we took office. the policies that were put in place were put in place about 130 days ago, not eight years ago. >> come on, steny. you sound like the kid who showed up without his home work every day, and he wants to blame the dog for eating his home work. the president said the unemployment wouldn't get above 8%. we said earlier this year that this plan was not going to work. brian: only 10% of the stimulus package has been spent, and the american people overwhelmingly are concerned about the deficit spending and too much spending. >> and they should be because this was stimulating votes in democratic districts, it was a christmas list of things that democrats were holding, wanting to have spent in fair districts. most of it is not going to create jobs, it's going to create government dependency, and that's why i opposed it, i oppo

to that, we spent a couple of hours with speaker pelosi on at least two occasions, majority leader hoyer on a couple of occasions, and then specifically with chairman waxman, the seven blue dog conservative democrats on the energy and commerce committee spent a number of hours with him in trying to be helpful. we are not trying to kill health care reform. we are trying to be constructive. we want a bill that does a better job of containing costs, reducing health-care to the rate of normal inflation, and one that they can pass on the house floor. >> one of the problems here is what specifically you are going to do to address these costs concerns. you say you're not in favor of a surtax to pay for the short-term costs. it sounds like you were supportive of taxing health care benefits. -- it did not sound like you are supportive of taxing health care benefits. why haven't you come out with specific proposals to pay for it in the short term and long term? you have put out principles that you want to see followed. why not give the chairman and others an idea of which would specifically like t

hoyer. mr. hoyer? >> thank you very much, madam speaker. .k you for your leadership on this issue. there are certain things that are a necessity for all of us. clean air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat, and our health. those are essentials if we're going to have any quality of life. indeed, the first two are essential if we're going to have life, period. we are debating in this congress all of those issues. clean air, we passed an energy bill. we passed it in the time frame in which we said we'd pass it. it's now in the senate. hopefully they will pass it soon. and we will have conference on that issue. we are now addressing health care, which as i said is a necessity for all ouf or families. reforming health care is an economic imperative, a budget imperative, and a moral imperative. it's an economic imperative because health insurance premiums have more than doubled since 2000 straining family budgets across america and going up at $1,00 a year. and with our family spending twice, it is fewer jobs and less competitiveness. reform is

only yesterday the number-two democrat in the house, steny hoyer, said this there might not be a vote in the house before august but nancy pelosi is threatening to keep the house in session in washington in august in order to get that vote. >>> let's turn to another political cliffhanger right now, the state of sonia sotomayor's nomination to the u.s. supreme court. in a supreme court surprise of sorts today, the conservative senator who grilled judge sotomayor said this. he said he's going to vote for her nomination. we're talking about the south carolina republican lindsey graham. he explained his decision this way. >> i understand the path of least resistance for me personally would be to vote no. that's probably true anytime you're in a minority party and you lost the election, but i'm still compelled to vote yes, and i feel that this is the right vote for me and, quite frankly, for the country in this case. >> his decision opening up a growing divide in the republican ranks over sotomayor's nomination. i'll be speaking, by the way, with senator graham about his decision and other

couple of hours with speaker pelosi on at least two different location -- occasions, majority leader hoyer and other leaders on a couple of occasions and specifically with chairman waxman, the seven blue cogs, conserve -- blue dogs, conservative democrats on the energy and commerce committee, sat down with him and tribed helpful. we're not trying to kill health care reform. we're trying to be constructive and give us a bill that does a better job of containing costs, reducing the rate to the rate of inflation and one that can be passed on the house floor. >> it seems like one of the pobs is what you're going to do to address cost concerns. you said you're not much in favor of the tax for costs, it doesn't sound like upt to tax health care benefits. why haven't blue dogs come out with specific proposals to pay for it short-term and long-term. i don't mean a bill, necessarily, but why not give the chairman and other members ideas specifically of what you'd like to do. with regard to the surtax, $1 trillion over 10 years is a lot of money. why haven't the blue dogs been more specific about wh

house majority leader sten a hoyer says that may not happen. a senior party source tells cnn some house democrats are frustrated that the president isn't taking more of a lead in crafting the hedgelation, beak not making it clear what he would support or how he would pay for it. many republicans complain the current democratic proposals would fail to deliver what they promised and amount to a government takeover of health care. >>> and the president, by the way, is welcoming iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki to the white house this afternoon. they're having a meeting in the oval office right now and will be focusing on security, economic issues, cultural ties, of course. in just about we think half an hour, they're going to hold a joint news conference in the rose gard be, could happen any minute. we'll keep our eye on that for you. >>> we want to make you aware of an amber alert rt that's been issued right now for a 12-year-old oklahoma girl. if you're in the still itwater area or oklahoma city area, please take note. police there in stillwa

listen to this from steny hoyer. >> there's no doubt that the bill is going to have changes as it moves through the process. i would be shocked if that was not the case. this is a work in progress. >> it is supposed to be near completion and it really is not. that is what the president had to raise the temperature. jon: in the house, it is the blue dog democrats who are exerting their power in this thing. >> there are 52 of them in the house and they have enough votes on the energy and commerce committee to block legislation. the conservative blue dogs and they have a major play to make. there are centrists in the senate who have expressed misgivings. they are the ones who hold the cards. it was interesting in the remarks to the white house. it is democrats who control the congress and their the ones giving the biggest headaches. jon: a major controversy over this a proposal to send hit teams to kill al qaeda opera chips. the panel will investigate whether the cia but broke the law. the law requires the cia to keep congress fully and currently informed of its intelligence activities thr

democrats announced a deal designed to rein in the growth of medicare, and stanley hoyer is leaving open the possibility of holding lawmakers in session aday or two for the bill. despite that, they are not expected to pass any legislation before the august recess. president obama is hoping that dollar signs will entice schools to improve. friday, he announced more than $1 billion will be awarded to states on a competitive basis. to qualify, tax reforms link teacher pay to student performance and hire and fire student teachers regardless of tenure. the national education association supports the plan. one step closer to closing the california budget deficit. lawmakers friday approved a complex package of spending after a grueling month for the legislature. the plan now heads to arnold schwarzenegger's desk for final approval. > the president and the professor and the police officer. mr. obama'chat with officer crowley and reacon to whether he should still weigh in on this controversial arrest. (female narrator) from jennifer: a microfiber sofa bed for just $299, only at jennifer. $299. je

steny hoyer joins us now. will you recess with the health care bill? that we will be able to pass it next week. the committee is still meeting, passing out the bill. still having discussions with members. as you indicate, there are a number of members interested in costs, bending the curve over time so that a percentage of the dollars spent on health care will come down in this country. we have indicated that we want to make sure that citizens have access to affordable, quality health care. every member, blue dog to progressive, everyone in between, says that they will not vote for a health care reform bill. the american public wants to see one. we believe that we are on target and we want to get there. we want to get there through committee by the end of this week and through the house by the end of next week. through negotiations with the senate. we are working very hard toward those ends. jane: would you ask members to stay through vacation to get this done? >> i do nothing bet it is so much a question of staying because what we need to do and what

hoyer said. our meetings, we have been assured over and over again that the recognition we must have health care reform is universal in our caucus across the board and that we are trying to find a way to make it work in the best way for all of the regions in our country. it's pretty exciting. we'll be meeting with the president, mr. hoyer and i, later today to talk about some of the other issues. but this -- i mentioned this in this previous question, we are trying to squeeze all the savings we can out of this system first. rightfully so. many members in our caucus, including the blue dogs, want us to do that and we share that view. there are other provisions that they want addressed we haven't done, so this is not anything different from where we're going, it's just moreso. do you have a question? >> on the issue of how to pay for it, chairman rangel rolled out his proposal on friday and some senate democrats said they're taking a different approach. is there flexibility from house leaders in pa

megyn: the house majority leader steny hoyer left at you.e said, "if every member pledge to not vote for a bill if they have not read it in its entirety, i think we would have fevery few votes." >> if you think about it, his laughter, cynical as it may become is directed at the american people. -- as cynical as it may be, is directed at the american people. we're sick of hearing about these enormous pieces of legislation to do not know -- and they do not know what is in those bills. redrafted this pledge. it relates to the health care bill. it says two things. it says the designer will not vote for it without having read it. -- it says that the signer will not vote for it without having read it, and it needs to be available on internet for 48 hours. i do not think that is asking too much. i think it is what americans overwhelmingly expect. megyn: that was the house majority leader. here's what the house minority leader, john boehner, had to say about the problem. >> here we are with 1100 pages. 1100 pages not one member of this body has read

house majority leader steny hoyer and chris dodd are not ruling out the idea. what are they saying on the other side of the aisle? joining us is mitch mcconnell, senate minority leader. >> good to be with you, greta. greta: how much are we spending on interest on the first one? do you have any idea? >> about $100 million a day on the first one in interest. greta: each day, we are spending that to support the first one? >> yes, and this fiscal year, we are spending -- we have an $800 billion greater deficit at the end of the third quarter of the fiscal quarter we are currently in that ends september 30 than we did last year. we are spending like drunken sailors. greta: there are some democrats that are talking about it, but they are not wedded to it. >> we had a great saying down in kentucky. we passed the first stimulus on the representation the president made that it would keep unemployment from going above 8%. well, now we know it is going to go above 10%, and we just discussed the amount of interest we are paying on this rubicon matter. it is truly astonishi

i commend leader hoyer, mr. spratt and the others for bringing this important legislation to the floor. let's say to our children and grandchildren, we're going to take some responsibility. the buck stops here. let's stop passing on our problems to the next generation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i would like to three minutes to the the gentleman from california, mr. lungren. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. lungren: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, when i returned to this house chamber in 2005, it was obvious to me that we were spending too much money on the federal level. it was obvious to me that uncle sam needed a diet at that time. but at this time, it is even worse. we need what i would call a gastrobypass. and instead, what do you bring to the floor? you bring us cosmetic surgery and fiscal face lift. it looks good, but there's nothing behind the mask. look at the figures. sinc

>> steny hoyer is a good man and has a lot of respect among the blue dogsç -- neil: but the left hasn to the left -- that is something that has decreased his poll numbers and decrease is likeability. -- and decreased his likeability. >> he got into office saying, "i am not just going to change --" we need to -- i think she is hurting the president and the country, and, you know, i think she's served the party well, but in this case, she is the wrong person for the job. neil: thank you. small-business owners talking about health care forcing them to cut jobs. companies not providing health insurance. top democrats want to do the very same thing across america with a view to cost efficiency. my next guest bones in massachusetts franchise -- owns and massachusetts franchise -- a massachusetts franchise. what does this mean for your business at this stage? >> for me, on a already made some cuts, but if this passes -- i have already made some cuts. potentially losing a couple of people, which will impact the growth of my business. neil: you have a choice here, judy, if i read between the

representative finney hoyer said the legs is bogged down in committee in the house. plus rebellious conservators to moderate democrats have balked over the bills. earlier today the white house said president obama will continue to work on health care next month, even if congress goes on vacation. >> and senator barbara mikulski is biz he is thinks last days of july, prompted by the collision of 2 dc metro trains. introduced a bill to introduced safety standards for subway systems. and points out there are federal safety systems for buses, trains, and airplanes, and not for subways. >> and some good news for those earning minimum wage. starting today, the federal minimum wage is 70 cents higher. that increase is raising concern by many small business owners that are worried about their bottom line. john rydell ma more. >>. >> in the heart of fell's point, jeff harwood is determined to make his mark. he has just opened this business. and while the economy is struggling he knows his customers need their cup of joe. or ice cappuccino. but he and other business owners wil