and i'll let me just finish, lamar. have done is we have tried to take every single cost containment idea that is out there, every proposal that health care economists say will reduce health care costs we have tried to adopt. -- in the the various proposals. there are additional ideas that republicans have presented that we think are interesting and we also tried to include. let me give you an example. you mentioned the idea of buying across state lines, insureds. that is something i have put in my proposal, that is in the senate proposal. i think it shows some promise. you mentioned it that mike enzi has previously said that he is interested in small businesses being able to pool t(in the equivalent of an exchange. that is where there is some overlap. it is important to understand that what we have done is try to take every single cost- containment idea that is out there and try to adopted in this bill. what i would like to do is see if we can proceed and have a very concrete conversation about what are the ideas that

president, lamar alexander is going to present our case.i thought lamar did the best job i've seen him do in a long, long time. >> tennessee senator, former governor, and communications secretary under george bush 41. >> they didn't buy the car last year, it cost too much. we need a new model. let's go piece by piece. and then he went after reconciliation as a terrible thing. sure enough, harry reid comes up and, three times, you're entitled to your own opinions, my friend, lamar. you're not entitled to your facts. frankly, it was a terribly partisan moment for the democrats. you went back to the republicans and tom colburn was very good, he had good ideas. obama himself agreed about these undercover patients going in, and schumer. president's opening remark were terrific. the republican party has done itself well and credit not only goes to lamar and colburn, but mitch mcconnell who strat enjoysed this and realized they had a tough time in baltimore. i think the democrats are the ones on the defensive. >> well, mr. feldman? >> i agree with

thank you, very much. >> well, thank you, lamar.th i and lamar went a little bit over our original although indicated time. i -- do not want to be a hypocrite. wanted to give you some slack. we're going to have nancy and harr -- owe i think me -- my understanding is you guys want to split time? >> well -- >> we'll split it up. so we'll let them -- have some quick remarks. what i will then do is just address -- john, are you going to make the presentation yourself? okay. what i will then do is just address a couple of points that were raised by you and lamar in terms of process. and then we will start diving in and getting to work. all right? nancy? >> yes, mr. president. thank you, very much, for bringing us here today. i will try to stick to the time, because we have many people to hear from. thank you, mr. president, again. it was almost a year ago, march 5th, of laugh year when you brought us together in a bipartisan way to set us on a path to lower costs, improve quality and expand access to quality health care for all americans

there you see john mccain and lamar alexander. they have come -- the representatives from the house, the senators and the senate, they have been selected by the leadership to attend for their presumably unique perspective, their important roles in this health care process. john king, if you take a look at those who have been invited to this session, eric cantor, the number 2 minimum, the minority whip, it's a pretty -- i would say on the house side, the democratic side, it's sort of stacked. >> this is a very liberal conservative contrast when you look at the house delgz. nancy pelosi has brought her chief lieutenants on the health care issue and with the exception of jim cooper, a congressman from tennessee, it is a predominantly liberal group. the democrats from the senate are slightly left of center but that's part of the problem we were just talking about. the democrats can't referee their own differences let alone the divide with the republicans. three medical doctors among the republicans in the room and they are there becau

lamar alexander make one argument about the -- whether premiums go up or down.nd hear the president disagree with him. and not have a clue who's right. >> that's right. that was the first smackdown of the whole summit. this is a question, are my premiums going to go up or down? that's what people are wondering. that are seeing in the news all these health care -- health insurance companies in these states are hiking premiums like crazy. so it was one of these things that if you parsed each of their sentences, you would realize they were talking about two different things. lamar alexander was saying that premiums in the individual market would go up. according to the congressional budget office. that is true. the individual market is that 10% of americans who don't get coverage at work so they go out and buy policies on their own. what he didn't say is that most of those people would more than make up for that with the additional help they would get from the government in the form of subsidies. and for those of us who are fortunate enough to get health coverage a

so let me respond to what you just said, lamar, because it's not factually accurate.ssional budget office says. the costs for families for the same type of coverage that they're currently receiving would go down 14% to 20%. >> hold it, mr. president, that, according to the congressional budget office is not accurate. stuart varney, the host of "varney & company." he doesn't have electricity at his house this morning either. >> that's true. yes. >> stuart, the president said that premiums for individual insurance policies would go down. lamar alexander said they would go up. who's right? >> actually, they're both right. let me explain it. take the big picture for a second. if you've got privately provided health care from your employer and it's a reasonable plan, those plans are going to be taxed, regulated and fees will be applied which will raise the price to you. if that's the plan you've got, your cost is going to go up. millions of people will be taken out of the private system, transferred to medicaid, and/or to subsidized health care and they will receive a subs

i like lamar alexander talking back, jon kyl talking back, paul ryan talking back. >> sean: i like it too. no one is going to listen to me. i think they should put their promises on paper, follow the success of the contract. that will hold then to the values and promises they are making in the election. good luck with the vote. now the cat's out of the bag. we'll see you on the book tour. we'll be out there together. there's bill bennett's new look on our screen, "as century turns." let not your heart be troubled. a lot more hannity, straight ahead. >> this bill does not control cost. this bill does not reduce deficits. >> sean: after yesterday's disastrous summit is reconciliation the democrats' only option? >> put that on the shelf, start over with a blank piece of paper. >> sean: joe, your mic is on. joe biden caught on tape, the results are not flattering. the white house opens its doors to nonbelievers. lots more hannity, straight ahead. st: could switching to go really save you 15% or more on car insurance? host: did the waltons take way too long to say goodnight? mom: g'night j

lamar alexander after his trademark plaid shirts and attention to air quality in the mountains. a pretty cute bug. >> he always wore the plaid shirt and it was always lamar exclamation point. >> any higher compliment than having an insect named after you? >>> up next, taking on the terror threat overseas. we'll get a debriefing with congressman adam ship who just returned from yemen and afghanistan. >>> and in the don't say that don't, you're not going to believe what the folks in california have up their sleeves. >>> first, the white house scoop of the day, they'll be eating maryland crab in the white house mess today. >> not even going to lanham. >> i thought you were going to make a crabby joke or -- anyway. next time. next time. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. don't forget mrs. collier. i won't. ♪ clear some snow? spread a little warmth? maxwell house gives you a full-flavored cup of coffee. so you can be good to the last drop. food myth #14. [ woman ] it's still pizza if i dab it with a napkin and pull off the cheese. [ female announcer ] not good pizza. with

. >> woodruff: tennessee senator lamar alexander was asked by the g.o.p. leadership to lead off for his party. he explained why republicans oppose the obama plan. >> we believe we have a better idea. and that's to take many of the examples that you just mentioned about health care costs, make that our goal, reducing health care costs, and start over, and let's go step by step toward that goal. we have to start by taking the current bill and putting it on the shelf and starting from a clean sheet of paper. now, you've presented ideas, but it's said it's a lot like the senate bill. it has more taxes, more subsidies, more spending. so what that means is that when it means that for millions of americans premiums will go up, because those... when people pay those new taxes, premiums will go up, and they will also go up because of the government mandates. our country is too big, too complicated, too decentralized for washington, a few of us here, just to write a few rules about remaking 17% of the economy all at once. that sort of thinking works in a classroom,

i don't think it got a great lamar alexander who had a balanced sense of where we are.the core problem is straight for. the liberal democrats wanna spend a lot more than we have. for good reason from their standpoint they want a much bigger government. the republicans and moderate democrats don't want to do that question now w what does the president do? no breakthrough today, interesting exercise. i suspect for most americans the real puzzle is, since this morning unemployment applications went up, why didn't we have the same level summit on jobs? >> greta: maybe we will. my curiosity is i didn't like it when big drugs met behind closed doors last june we had the ben nelson thing behind closed doors. any way now we had transparency today. plan b, what do you think the president has in mind? >> nice six hours of transparency. the end of transparency. here's the challenge to the president, they clearly are willing to try to use reconciliation to pass a bill with 50 votes plus the vice president. >> greta: that sounds more like tough luck, i won the election and you're ou

staunch republicans, like john mccain and lamar alexander want competition to lead the way and shouldert a big government health care scenario. so it looks like the two sides are not going to meet on this thing. finally, talking points believes the u.s.a. is now heading towards bankruptcy. that would make every citizen sick. there dismo way americans can afford another multi trillion-dollar entitlement. so, health care reform, yes, but it has to be smaller and more market-place driven. and that's the memo. now for the top story tonight, reaction of reaction. joining us from washington congressman dennis kucinich and congressman woman michele bachmann. congresswoman, what was the headline for you today? >> i think the take away today, bill, is that we accomplished more at the white house beer summit than we accomplished today at the white house health care summit. [ laughter ] i think a lot of people were frustrated. they didn't see a lot happen. >> bill: okay. but, let's be fair. the american people, if you could slog through this, and it's my job to do it so the viewers don't have to,

your sister married one of the lakers, lamar odom.our other sister is dating reggie bush from the new orleans saints. >> super bowl boy. >> jimmy: your boyfriend is -- you're the only one not with a professional athlete. >> yes. you're right. that's -- and that's why i swear, do you watch our show, like, how he's treated? >> jimmy: no one likes him. >> but i have to say, my mom is so much nicer to him since mason was born, and so much nicer to me. when i'm on the phone, she's like, sweetie, oh my gosh. >> jimmy: you have leverage now. you have the prize. and she can't get to that baby without your permission. >> and without scott. >> jimmy: you can start throwing grape fruits at her now. >> good idea. i'm going to do that. >> jimmy: you forget scott, though, because you really have the pow eer over the baby. as the mother, you have to do something totally weird to lose that power. you know what i'm saying. >> and i'm not doing it. >> jimmy: you shouldn't. if you did, it would be good for ratings, probably. you don't want to do anythin

you heard lamar alexander open up and say just take it off the table. and it's because you do lower the threshold, take a major bill, you do jam it through at a time the american people don't want the bill. i do think that would be rejected and it would be a huge rebill onby the american people. >> rose: what do you think of the reconciliation process? >> well, the reconciliation process has been used for health care before. it was used for cobra. it was certainly used for the children's health insurance plan. it's been used about 22 times in a dozen years. it doesn't bother me because it gets the majority of the votes to have it pass. what is archa sick not reconciliation but the whole ideahat you have to have 60 votes to stop debate. that seems strange to people that believe in democracy. i happen to disagree with my good frid bill frist about whether the american people really like the bill. when you break it down into pieces, explainhat each piece is, there are actually for it. as for back-room deals, let me say something about that. because i've al

lamar alexander wants holder to resign? does he want muller to resign too? who was appointed under president bush? does he want the others who have been standing up for the rule of law. reasonable people can disagree on whether khalid sheik mohammed should be tried in new york city, which is not going to be. there's all sorts of legitimate debate over how we handle terrorism. but let's not cast these aspirtions. >> will the republicans come back, we're not going to get to hang him? we're not going to get to execute him? >> yes. >> the point to that is, don't you want that out in a terrorist's mind at the last moment. if i chose -- something caused richard reid, as an example not to go to the bathroom where he would have been able to destroy that plane, to stay in his seat and try to light his shoes on fire with people around him. some doubt exists in his mind. don't you want to reward that doubt? if you don't do it and you cooperate, we're not going to kill you. if you don't want to kill yourself, we're not going to do it for you? >> what has gotten this guy

. >> so, lamar, when you mentioned earlier you said premiums go up, that's just not the case accordingo the congressional budget office. >> mr. president, if you're going to contradict me, i ought to have a chance to -- >> no. let me -- and this is an example of where we've got to get our facts straight. >> reporter: a cnn fact check gives the edge to the president. the cbo found that his plan would lower premiums for millions of americans. and those facing hikes would get better coverage. the bottom line is there was no major break-through yesterday, no republicans saying they're ready to cross the aisles and support the president's plan. the bottom line after all of this is that the democrats are privately getting ready to use this process, this procedure, the shortcut known as reconciliation, so they don't need a super majority, just a simple majority in the house and senate. they haven't pulled the trigger on that. they're just getting ready on that. still, they do not clearly have the votes in the house and senate, even just simple majority. it's still far from reality, whether th

lamar alexander wants holder to resign. does he want mueller to resign, too, who was appointed under president bush? does he want the others who have been standing up for the rule of law? look, reasonable people can disagree on whether khalid shaikh mohammed should be tried in new york city, which apparently he is not going to be. there's all sorts of areas for legitimate debate on how we handle terrorism. but let's not cast these aspersions on people's motives. let's not call people soft. that has to end. >> nbc news can't confirm the story that there was a deal cut, so he doesn't face the death penalty. but is that where the republicans will come back? we're not going to get to hang him, we're not going to get to execute him? >> sure. >> and the point to that is, don't you want that out in a terrorist's mind in the last moment? if i choose -- if something caused ripped reid, for example, not to go into the bathroom where he would have been able to destroy that plane without anybody interfering with him, to stay in his sea

here's tennessee senator lamar alexander at yesterday's summit. >> you can say that this process has been used before, and that would be right, but it's never been used for anything like this. it's not appropriate to use to write the rules for 17% of the economy. >> rather than start at the outset talking about legislative process and what's going to happen in the senate and the house and this and that, what i suggest is let's talk about the substance-- how we might help the american people deal with costs, coverage, insurance and these other issues. >> holman: but senate majority leader harry reid reminded alexander of the g.o.p.'s past use of reconciliation on significant pieces of legislation. >> lamar, you're entitled to your opinion but not your own facts. no one has said... i read what the president has online. no one has talked about reconciliation, but that's what you folks have talked about ever since that came out, as if it's something that has never been done before. >> holman: and the brookings institution's mann sees it being done again soon, with the health care bill. >

lamar alexander calling for the resignation of eric holder whose prosecutors are overseeing the case, and whose fbi agents first interviewed the man. republicans furious with holder for the fact that abdulmutallab stopped talking for a month, despite the fact that his agents, in just an hour of questioning, almost as soon as he landed in detroit, got abdulmutallab to reveal the key names and locations associated with the bomb plot. today the fbi director robert mueller explained the concept behind abdulmutallab's conversation for anyrepublicans not swift enough to follow an episode of "law & order." >> we have found the system of justice in the united states which allows for consideration for contributing intelligence and information and credit for that is a powerful incentive for persons to provide truthful, actionable information, evidence and intelligence. we have other countries that don't have the same system of justice, where there is no incentive to cooperate or provide intelligence, and the person stays in jail without any incentive to provide intelligence and without providin

listen to this exchange over premiums between the president and republican senator lamar alexander. >> premiums will go up and they will also go up because of the government mandates. >> it's not factually accurate. costs for families for the same type of coverage as they're currently receiving would go down 14 to 20%. >> i believe with respect you're wrong. >> president obama is asking republicans to do some soul searching. republicans want to start over. the president said there is no time for another year of debate. >>> everyone has been complaining and vdot is listening. next on the news edge, their plans to pack your -- patch your potholes. >>> plus, a serious bank blunder. find out wat citigroup did that could put your identity at risk. >>> you have seen this one? cap star alexander ovechkin shoving a photographer at the olympics. the story behind this video coming up. >>> first, a quick check of our rundown. the news edge at 11:00 coming right back.  >>> personal information for thousands of citigroup customers may have been exposed. the bank printed the soc

we had discussions with senator harkin and myself, lamar alexander my ranking member. >> jon klein. >der boehner about this. the joint staff of the senate and house, bipartisan, and the administration working together on the basic architecture of it. that is the route that we would prefer to go. and in consideration of that act, we have the opportunity because what the president and the secretary laid out in terms of race to the top, the kinds of things that they want to encourage in terms of professional development for teachers, data systems that are very important to tell the house schools are doing, and the promotion of charter schools -- there was a lot here for republicans and democrats who supportÑi the issue to come together around. >>çó it seems there is a controversial bill. with bonds supported it originally and now wants to scrap it -- roy bluntçó support% it originally and now wants to scrap it. >> we think we have an opportunity to do it in a very different way. we're looking at whether or not to some extent we can put in the ingredients for high-performance goals, put i

senator harken, myself, and lamar alexander, senator ense and john -- my ranking member john kline.and he went and met with leader boehner about this. we have another meeting i believe coming up next week, the joint staffs of the senate and the house, bipartisan, republican democrats and the administration. we've been working together on the basic architecture of it. so that's the route we would prefer to go and i think in this it ration of the elementary and secondary education act we have that opportunity because of what the president and the secretary have laid out in terms of race to the top, in terms of their, the kinds of things that they want to encourage in terms of professional development for teachers, data systems that are very important to tell how schools are doing. and the promotion of charter schools. so there's a lot here for republicans and democrats, those of us who worked on those issues to come together on. >> it seems like it's such a controversial bill. people like roy blunt who supported it now wants to scrap it. the whole testing thing has been very controver

you can see the senate republican leader, mitch mcconnell, and lamar alexander, seated at their.air house, renovated during the reagan administration. tom joins us from illinois. what do you want to see today? caller: i'm sorry, what did you say? host: what do you want to see and hear today? caller: the truth. what i mean by that is that i have been sitting here watching this whole thing, and obama said -- i don't have this all right, but supposedly, we are supposed to start paying taxes towards the health care bill, i don't think that we are going to have health coverage for, what, four or five years. i am going to be paying for something that i am not going to get, but i still have to buy my other coverage? i have never heard anybody explained that real well. in the same sentence, he says that somehow we will balance the budget out of this thing. if a somewhere in there somebody is standing may -- is scamming me -- the other thing we need to look at social security, medicare -- first, before i get to that, i want to say one other thing -- i am a member of the hancock county hea

on "abc's this week" they will talk with nancy pelosi, lamar alexander.he guests on "fox news sunday" include jon kyle, paul ryan, and robert menendez. on "face the nation" you will hear bob schieffer with steny hoyer. kent conrad, tomÑi coburn, and marsha blackburn. on "state of the union" they will speak with mitch mcconnell and nancy pelosi. you can listen to all five of the sunday morning talk shows starting at noon eastern on c- span radio, here in washington, d.c., on the web ads c- spanradio.org. follow ups on facebook and twitter. -- follow us on facebook and twittered. >> i have always followed a policy in the capital of the u.s.. >> a different side of the nation's capital, from documentary filmmaker kike arnal. >> this weekend, a discussion on george orwell with george packer and christopher hichens, "afterwards," part of the book tv weekend. >> patrick leahy kicks off the technology policy exposition on "the communicators" at 8:00 eastern on c-span 2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: our sunday round table this sunday, april ryan and t

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what's interesting, you might not have seen, congressman lamar alexander noted in the budget monday there's200 million allocated for a salt civilian tl for ksm and his cohorts in the fema budget, the agency that cleans up disasters. >> i didn't know know that. i didn't know that. >> the american people think it's not worth $200 million on these four to have civilian trials in the united states when they'll have military commissionings continuing in guantanamo bay for lesser terrorist. >> neil: my point is if you are going through the civilian trial, you have to presume innocence and don't talk about executing a guy. because you're saying our justice system will prevail and if he's guilty, bad things happen, if he's not, good things happen. >> we're playing into the terrorist's lawyers hands because they'll walk in and say my client can't get a fair trial and i can't imagine a judge who couldn't agree. >> thank you very much. >> hours ahead of scott brown's swearing in, the president tell telling them to go all out. >> you bash vegas and think it's only going to stay in vegas? don't dis the

lamar alexzander talked about his friend's wife and our president brought up his mom and two daughters again. look, i have had enough of politicians using isolated tales of anguish to score political points. if we could get a more for rum on the stories whether they are true, exaggerated or better off. we all experienced pain and sorrow and lost loved ones, but if everybody pulled a slaughter, nothing would get done. as passionate as you are, it still doesn't pass muster as an intelligent point. you can't tell people about a friend dying from falling off a ladder and then say that's why ladders need banning. if we stop turning every debate into a contest of tragic suffering, there might be real reform. but i doubt it. if you disagree with me, you are worst than a racist homophobe. mary, you work in politics more than anybody. do these stories have an affect on people? do people when they hear that, does that change their mind about anything? >> i don't think so. i think it makes the person saying it feel better about how they are spending their time. and it makes them feel like in this

. >> so lamar, when you mentioned earlier you said that premiums go up, that's just not the case according to the congressional budget office. >> mr. president, if you're going to contradict me i ought to have a chance to -- >> no, no, no. this is an example of where we have to get our facts straight. >> reporter: a cnn fact check gives the edge to the president. the cbo found his plan would lower premiums for millions of americans. and those facing hikes would get better coverage. >> i tell you, et, sort of listening there, both sides really claiming victory. we understand you have more reporting that moves the ball a little further? >> reporter: it shows out the democrats are more nervous than letting on publicly. what i'm picking up from democrats close to the white house they've started warning the president and top advisers if they don't get this health care deal done by late march when congress is going away for the easter recess they're going to move on when they come back in april and go back to jobs and the economy, other things the president's been talking about. what that tells

lamar smith mentioned the fact that there were other exemptions. and to be perfectly candid, i do not know that there were more than two exemptions, and it turned out there are. as a matter of fact, there are 27. but many of them, and i haven't researched this yet, but many of them are partial exemptions. many of them are very small exemptions that apply to -- are very limited in terms of the economic scope of our reach in the united states. but they never the less exist. mr. smith may remember that the baseball antitrust exemption was given very close scrutiny only two or three years ago. and it reminded them of the fact that their conduct hadn't always been such that deserved a continuation of the exemption. and i'm hopeful that the baseball will feel deserveant. here in the field of health care, i think it's hard to defend any argument that health insurance industry deserves or requires or needs an exemption. . and for that reason i'm urging all my colleagues to examine this two-page bill and scrutinize it. let's see if we can get a refreshingly

if i could say one other thing which is that, i think lamar alexander is getting a lot of praise startingbeing very conciliatory saying we want the president to succeed. that was the tone people thought would exist throughout. although i want, that type of statement is simply made not credible by the fact that in the last year republicans have obstructed over 100 times things that the president has tried to work for. so, i mean the idea of saying you want -- obstructing everything they do. it loses credibility and undercuts the entire argument. jon: but as the president said, yesterday, tucker, that's why we have elections. >> of course the bottom line these guys don't know what they're doing. if they did they would have started out a year ago, here are four things we'll do to improve the health care system. we'll not try to fix it all in one year. that is impossible and everyone knows that. three of them are democratic idea, sort of republican idea, they would have had that done by october. the president is convinced god anointed him to fix everything in one fell swoop. that is not how a

some of my democratic friends will say, well, lamar, where's the republican comprehensive bill? and i say back, well, if it you're waiting for mitch mcconnell to roll in a wheel barrow in here with a 2,700 page republican comprehensive bill, it's not going to happen. because we have come to the conclusion we don't do comprehensive well. we have watched the comprehensive economy-wide, cap and trade. we have watched the immigration bill. we have the best senators we have got working on that in a bipartisan way. we have watched the comprehensive health care bill, and they fall of their own way. our country is too big, too complicated, to decentralized for washington. a few of us here, just to write a few rules about remaking 17% of the economy all at once. that sort of thinking works in a classroom, but it doesn't work very well in our big, complicated country. it doesn't work for most of us. and if you look around the table, and i'm sure it's true on the dimmic side, we have got shoe store owners and small business people and former county judge. and we've got three doctors. we've

lamar smith of the judiciary committee, the gentleman from san antonio, texas, urged democrat leaderst know whether or not this bill would come forward to extend those expiring provisions stating, and i quote, congress has a duty to protect the american people. failing to re-authorize our national security laws in a time of heightened threat is reckless. these were the types of public comments that republicans are making about the need to make sure that we press this body, to get done its job with those processes. yesterday, up in the rules committee, the gentleman, mac thornberry, from texas, testified in the rules committee about the importance of extending the expiring patriot act provisions at the time we were debating the intelligence bill. i thought that mr. thornberry was well on point, was thoughtful, was articulate about the significance of providing the necessary debate on important issues and amendments. i think we just had a debate here on the floor where we went through how these issues need to be talked about in this body and every single member needs to understand them

first of all, it were that lamar alexander u.s is that i really like that i think something is all ofou can help with and a new hampshire because of your role as first in the nation can play a major role in setting a standard. we ought to have more conversation and less campaign. and the conversation-- [applause] a conversation is us talking to get there, us sharing information together, us trying have experiments together. a campaign is somebody trying to convince you to vote for them so they can have power. they are not the same thing. the campaign ought to have as a consequence to the conversation a positive meeting and there i want to urge all of you if your interested in this process, there is a wonderful book by harold holzer. to show you how bipartisan i am, harold holzer was bella abzug's press secretary. then he was mario cuomo's secretary. he is now the vice president of the metropolitan museum of art in new york and a brogan scholar. he wrote a book called lincoln a cooper union. lincoln was invited in 1860 to go for the first time to make a major speech at cooper union whi