kate hunter? guest: senator kay bailey hutchison made this point that we will see later today that the bill is unconstitutional for essentially the reason that the caller said because the bill treats states differently. therefore, she's making the case that it violates the equal protection caused -- equal protection clause under the constitution. that nebraska will be treated one way with medicaid expansion, and another state a different way, that that runs afoul of the people protection clause. there is likely to be five votes on these types of orders, potentially all of them raising constitutional issues. it does seem as though senator ensign said on the floor yesterday that somebody would file a lawsuit, that somebody would bring a court challenge, challenging specifically the individual mandate. but it does seem like republicans are -- no one has done this yet because the bill has not passed yet, and there is no sign of any specific group doing this. but it would stand to reason that there is

your question for kate hunter. caller: first, i would like to thank you for taking my call. i would like to ask, i guess in a question form, how is it do you think that what needs to be done in terms of what president obama was elected, the platforms that he said, this is what needs to be done, this is what i will do and therefore people voted for him -- so how are the compromises in the process such as this nebraska kickback or louisiana purchase we are calling it, these deals that basically designed to get congressional figures reelected, how are these corrupting what needs to be done in a sense that we need a strong figure who can correct this type of a flock? host: thank you for the call. in a way to segue what tyler was talking about, let me refer to the editorial of "the wall street journal." the box is called your senate at work. the source is the senate finance committee. host: just some of the examples "the wall street journal" points to. guest: it is true. there are things of this bill tail 0 -- tailored to individual senators. i think what democrats would say that

we'll continue to get updates from cq, kate hunter, thanks for being with us. >> guest: thank you. >> and, again, we'll have live coverage when the senate gavels in at 12:30 ian -- eastern here on c-span. >> now, in depth, normally seen at this time here on c-span too is live, now, on c-span, and we are talking today with author joy health care akdhakim. she is the author of the three-volume history, the story of science. other books include history of the u.s. she's a former teacher, a newspaper editorial writer for the virginian pilot, and again, in depth today on our companion network, c-span. back on capitol hill, senators getting ready to continue debate on health care with a number of amendments being offered. two are scheduled for votes in the 3:00 hour this afternoon, right now scheduled for 3:15 eastern. one by nevada republican john ensign to limit the fees plaintiffs' attorneys can collect in medical malpractice lawsuits. and another amendment offered by arkansas democrat blanche lincoln would limit the amount insurance companies can collect. here's a look. >> mr. president

kate hunter is a staff writer staffcq. >> president obama and vice president biden came up this afternoon to meet with the democratic caucus. it is a critical moment in the debate over health care. the president was looking to essentially rally the troops over the issue. >> can you tell us who was there with president? >> it was the president, vice- president, and secretary salazar, the interior secretary who used to be a senator and the secretary of health and human services, among other administration folks. >> and the democratic leaders? >> every single member of the caucus. the senate stayed in session, and republicans actually presided over that senate so that every member of the caucus could attend the meeting. >> did any news come from the meeting? >> not really. members came out talking about how the president focused on the big picture. he did not get into details. some of the more liberal members who were looking for him to get behind the idea of a public option came out saying that he did not do that. he did not talk about policy issues are way in on approaches going forward. h

. >> and kate hunter of congressional quarterly both sides are accusing the other of breaking the senate tradition. did today change the debate? >> definitely. i would say both sides have been locking horns over this bill for quite awhile but it seems as we are getting closer and closer to crunch time with christmas fast approaching it seems as though things are reaching a fever pitch and today this dispute over how the sanders amendment was handled underscores that. >> could you tell things were different when you were walking around the hallways or on the floor of the senate? >> you can. there were a number of reporters in the gallery dustin of the senate floor earlier today and they were as most people know there are often on of a love senators on the floor while amendment or debate it until the vote is called there were a number of senators out on the floor. senator reid and senter bachus had a number of intense discussions. senator reid and senator kyl had a number of discussions and you can just tell while there is a normal amount of collegiality between the members things definite

host: kate hunter, thanks for being with us. one of our viewers saying "president obama would do better by trying to rally the american citizens rather than a democratic caucus." the senate will convene at noon eastern time. this is not the only issue being of a topic in the sunday morning program. bobbi jackson. guest: the guests on nbc's "meet the press" will be defense secretary robert gates, secretary of state hillary clinton, and ranking chairman john mccain. this week george steff no luss will -- steff no luss will talk with jeff feingold. -- senate yorte whip, richard durbin, and john cornin, the chairman of the national republican snorl committee. on "face the nation" you'll hear host bob sheefer with secretary gates and secretary of state clinton. and national security adviser james jones. senate republican whip john kyle and senate intelligence committee chair diane feinstein. we are at 90.1 f.m. here in washington, d.c. nationwide on xm satellite radio and on the web at c-spanradio.org, and you can follow us on facebo

alex wayne and kate hunter have pieces in the latest edition of cq senate.d groups were gearing up for what is certain to be an arduous conference which will begin in earnest in early january. the democrats' goal is to send the final measure to the president before he delivers his state of the union address. but there are crucial differences between the senate bill and version the house passed can you go the concept of the government run health plan language on abortion and the source of funding. you can get all of this information by logging on to p c-span.org and clicking on the hub information on the debate, details all available in one stop and we will continue to update it as we 10 the debate moving into did -- as we continue the debate. dean joins us from martin, south dakota, on the independent line. caller: thank you. i have been listening to "washington journal" for a long time. host: how much snow did you get the there, by the way? did you get a lot of snow the last couple of days? caller: we got a lot of wind and it makes drifts but it subsided no

we bill -- kate hunter, thank you for being with us. caller: thank you.t: we are continuing with your phone calls. we want to hear from you who have been out of work or underemployed. what is the job search like where you live? this twitter comment -- i cannot imagine being a college graduate and getting this slap in the face. john, from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. i wanted to say,Ñi unemployment has changed for me. with the fuel and the money in the war, the economy that we handed to barack obama -- i am an independent. seeing the money that was sucked out of our economy, i am on the heavy equipment highway business. our business did fine for the last 35 years. we were able to sustain and make a nice salary. it seems that we completely hit a flat spot when gas and fuel went up to $4. i do not understand how government, they flattened our economy out. once all of that money is sucked out, there is nothing left. host: thank you for the call. a couple of developments regarding pakistan. the attack that took place overnight, 26 people hav

. >> kate hunter is with us. >> thank you for having me. caller: thank you for having me.ost: this recipe for getting health care done is the front page story of "the washington post." are you hearing this? caller: it is a very quick timeframe that they are dealing with. yes, it is just a matter of weeks before christmas and they want to get something passed by the end of the year. as soon as next week is a real possibility. host: can you walk us through some of the amendments on the floor? then there is a saturday and sunday session. what are you looking at? caller: it is a long and slow process. it took us four days on monday, yesterday is the first set of votes that we saw on any amendments whatsoever. now we are moving into the second stage with a chunk of amendments coming up. looks like there will be a session over the weekend, saturday and sunday. yesterday harry reid said that there would be votes over the weekend. the problem they are facing is that in the senate the rules are very cumbersome. what they do is they get these consent agreements to move forward on am