people like jeff bingaman. we get the two bills together. we have been working with the finance committee and put together a strong bill. he's been deeply engaged and i have every confidence. supporting our efforts this president is deeply committed to doing everything he can. he cares deeply about this issue. i've listened to him over again say how much this means to him. on his watch, he's able to get it done. while that wasn't enough to bring it across that finish line i'll continue to work with him. it's a good bill. >> i think we addressed it in the committee. we like the idea that people have choices. we respect that and we'll pursue that. we don't want to sdrim nate on our convictions. the kennedy amendment was adopted. in states of emergency, we don't want someone to be denied healthcare. there's no reason a good part, if not all of our bill, would be adopted. >> [inaudible] >> that's the response of the committees. we have to fix the ways to pay for all of this. a lot of this, we were dealing with our bill. we'll have to grapple wit

mike enzi, orrin hatch, kent conrad, jeff bingaman. is the future of health care, certainly in the finance bill, in whether or not these democrats and republicans can come together? >> reporter: well, this is really a focus, andrea, and if you'll indulge me for a moment, it was like the lightning round watching you and ron. you covered more ground in that segment than i can imagine. >> we have so much fun. >> reporter: and i will not be disclosing any of my holdings during this report. just having fun. the group you talked about is crucial. because you've got moderate republicans and you've got what i would call the timekeepers. this is a group that wants to slow the process down a bit after president obama has said he wants it done in august. the house is certainly pressing. they had their foot on the gas today with committees working over night, trying to get some of their work done on the house side. also, senator harry reid here in the senate, he's still talking about it being doable. but it's max baucus, his finance committee, whe

jeff bingaman did it on coverage. they had 11 or 12 hearings themselves on the subject matter even before a word was written on the bill, to bring people together to listen to ideas and how we could strengthen those ideas as part of the structure of reform for the health care system. and then that culminated with us sitting down beginning back five or six weeks ago now to actually mark up this bill, as we are expected to do. true, my republican friends in our committee did not vote for the bill. i've said that, regretfully. it was pretty clear to me that was probably going to happen no matter what we did. but they contributed and they made significant contributions. of the 161 amendments, mr. president, that we accepted offered by the republican side of the 300-plus amendment that we considered, 161 amendments offered by the minority are very much a part of the bill that i've been talking about this evening. some were technical amendments. but many were very, very substantive. and i will include in the record chapter

jeff bingaman from mexico -- coverage issue. how do we pay for this? will it reduce costs?hen there was patty murray did a great job of working with these issues. my good friend jack reed did a great job a number of things. and on down the line. bob casey, sherrod brown of ohio. i want to thank my republicans, even though they did not vote for the idea. i mentioned the ideas they brought it to make it a better bill. john mccain, lisa mikulski, orrin hatch -- i'm really going to miss someone here. the ideas that they came together to work. we have a product now. we need to get on the business of working on this. you cannot sustain the present situation. the american people deserve a lot better. the need the same kind of security that we provided for ourselves as members of the united states congress. i do not think the american people are going to upset the notion that they should have to live with the kind of fear and frustration that is associated with having the kind of health care system and our nation, knowing we can do better. i'm thank my colleagues for the work we ha

not in this picture is jeff bingaman. in the back is olympia snowe. why is so much attention focused on the senate committee? guest: out on capitol hill there are five committees working on health reform for the most part. the finance is one of two in the senate and one really out of 5 working on bipartisan legislation. bipartisan is not so of born in the house because of the super majority but in the senate it is important to get a bill passed to have some sort of bipartisan support and this might be necessary. host: tell us about the house. where do things stand in the energy and commerce committee? guest: is on again and off again and yesterday house democrats won four hours last evening, went through a tutorial to learn what the committees have been considering some of the members can understand what is in the legislation they are talking about. in the meantime, house energy and commerce has been stalled because there are conservative democrats on that committee that really have similar concerns to what the republicans in the senate have, so they

and jeff bingaman did the work on coverage issues as well, an important issue of how do we pay for this and come up with ideas that will reduce costs to make health coverage more affordable. and then of course there was patty murray as well who did a great job in working on workforce issues. i see my good friend, jack reed of rhode island who is on the floor, a member of our committee, and did a great job on a number of issues a. effecting the bill. and on down the line. kay hagan, jeff merkley, sheldon whitehouse, bob casey, shared brown of -- sherrod brown as well. i mentioned the ideas that they brought to our bill and made it a better bill. mike enzi, lamar alexander, john mccain, lisa murkowski, pat roberts, orrin hatch, many a going to miss somebody when you start that list. but the idea is we came together and worked and we have a product now and we need one out of the finance committee. but we need to get on the business of working at this in my view. you cannot sustain the present situation, and the american people deserve a lot better. they need the same kind of security, in m

the ideas, barbara mikulski and the extended bait on how to improve health care qualities and jeff bingaman and pat roberts on the issue of coverage, making a huge difference for us here coming up with the ideas on the pay or play for employers that i think has worked out to provide a reasonable impact as well as making sure that everyone is going to be covered or at least most americans will be. patty murray and the efforts on the work force made a significant contribution and we thank you immensely for the efforts to ee see people get the help they need in the nursing profession and the primary care needs of our nation. jack reed you made a number of contributions yesterday, specifically in a number of areas that have been worthwhile and you're working on orrin hatch on the follow-on biologics issue and so forth and was able to achieve what he wanted despite the differences in the committee, bernie sanders obviously on what he offered in quadrupling the number of penalties that would be imposed on those who engage in the fraud and abuse, to try to discourage that behavior in our country.