up tonight, our conversation with one of the leading voices on health care, tennessee lamar alexander. also tonight, dee dee bridgewater is here. her latest project is a tribute to the late great billie holiday. we're glad you joined us. lamar alexander and dee dee bridgewater coming up right now. >> there are so many things wal-mart is helping people do. most importantly, we are looking forward to building stronger relationships. with your help, the best is yet to come. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports "tavis smiley". tavis and nationwide insurance -- working to improve economic empowerment. >> nationwide is on your side! >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: senator lamar alexander is a member of the senate's health, labor, and pensions committee. he joins us from capitol hill. senator, good to have you back on the program, sir. >> thank you, tavis. tavis: before i get to the details, now that this has been signed into law, let me start with honestly and frankly some of the ug

the google one, lamar alexander zero. joining lamar alexander in embarrassing himself on live television on this subject is republican senator and sunday show more than regular john mccain. senator mccain's big, awkward liedown on the tracks to stop health reform came when he proposed changing senate rules so reconciliation couldn't be used for anything involving entitlements. so, for example, nothing that affected medicare could pass as part of health reform. >> entitlements should not be part of a reconciliation process, i.e., 51 votes. it's too important. >> today's john mccain should really talk to the guy who used to call himself john mccain about that because that other john mccain consistently votes to change entitlements through reconciliation votes. in 2005 the senate used reconciliation to pass the deficit reduction act by the slimmest of margins. the vice president at the time dick cheney was needed as the tie-breaking 51st vote. that bill among other things slashed spending for the entitlement known as medicai

bill: thank you for your time, lamar alexander from the hill, republican from tennessee. we'll wait on lindsey now. martha. martha: well, the earthquake in chile created panic around the entire pacific rim. there was word that a massive tsunami was on the way. fortunately for hawaii, those waves did not come. so what happened out there in the ocean? and can we ever predict what mother nature is going to do? bill: also a california teenager went out for a run, did not come home. what happened to chelsea king? there is new information about her disappearance and chelsea's parents join us after the break. >> if you know anything, help us bring her home. >> she's a great kid. >> she's such a good girl. she needs to come home. /d/d/d/da martha: good moorngd wait until you see this today from an ohio highway. watch this. >> oh my. martha: this all happened during that icy weather that had so many of us skidding around the highways in this country. a police officer was helping a motorist who was on the shoulder who probably -- look at that! my gosh. well, that car spins out of c

jane: tennessee senator lamar alexander is here live with us next.ou receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. [ male announcer ] competition... it pushes us to work harder. to be better. to win. but sometimes even rivals realize they share a common goal. america's beverage companies have removed full-calorie soft drinks from schools, reducing beverage calories by 88%. togethewith schools, we're hping kids makeore balanced chces every day. ♪ who says there's nothing like the taste of cool whip ? ♪ she does. ♪ and she does. ♪ and these guys too. ♪ obviously they do. ♪ oh, and her. ♪ we love getting our outback dirty. because it seems like the dirtier it gets, the more it shines. the subaru outback®. motor trend's 2010 sport/utility of the year®. hurry in to the subaru love spring event for great deals on all models. now through march 31st. jon: the hunt is on right now for a suspect wanted

that's what lamar alexander was talking about minutes ago. martha: there's no courtroom showdown for oprah winfrey. she settled a defamation lawsuit filed by the former head mistress at the school that oprah started in south africa. that was set to begin in philadelphia, a statement says winfrey and the school met privately and settled their differences. if you recall, the school staff was dismissed after some of the students there, they had this big opening, the school that she started and then came allegations of sexual abuse, a dorm matron at the academy for girls was charged with abusing six students in that case. bill: 20 minutes before the hour. we don't need to tell you money is tight for just about everyone, families across the country, so much so it's forcing multiple generations, including grandparents and college grads to live under one roof. the model of the new american home includes a second master bedroom for grandma and grandpa. laura ingle has that. reporter multi generational homes can make sense for families who have the fi

let's take some of these things we agree on and get with it. >> senator lamar alexander, good luck, sir. don't great work, doing the lord's work. i appreciate it. >> thanks, larry. >>> i want to expand and draw on the interview with senator alexander. as per obama care, let me report to us once again about our cousins in europe and britain. i was over there last week on holiday with my bride. we were in london and rome and reading the newspapers along the way. the european continent is erupting in labor strikes. a general strike in greece. lieu tan za airlines on strike in germany. and the french air traffic controllers are on strike. british airways saying they're going on strike. does this sound familiar? just like the 1970s before reagan and thatcher put an end to union work stopages and economic disruption. but there's no reagan and thatcher on the scene right now, certainly not in europe. instead we're witnessing the bankruptcy on the european entitlement state. and we're also seeing the parent powerlessness of european governments to stop the massive social benefits and to curb un

john fund, grover norquist, who runs his own association, americans for tax reform, and senator lamar alexandert is the meeting? >> it is the meeting that grover norquist puts together and i was granted access. i don't have many other photographs of the powerful, but i want to include them. >> why did he give you access? >> he said that it was good to do it. >> he knew that you were doing it? >> yes. >> did he know that this picture would be sandwiched in between a lot of these people? >> we were not sure about the final content of the book, either. >> d.c. police detained an underage driver. >> this was one of the night i was riding with the police. >> and then students at the exclusive school arriving at a formal. that is obviously a limousine, and here are mostly white young people moving here. >> just the comparison. >> did you ask permission and did they know what you were doing? >> they knew that i was documenting life in the city. >> and these kids are arriving at the formal. that is december 2004. >> same social dynamics. >> a night club in northeast with a 1000-person capacity, regarde

. >> early this morning, senator lamar alexander is on the floor and he's talking about health care.e offered a stinging rebuick of his view of how the obama administration views government. >> sometimes, i think mr. president, the model of the obama administration is, if you can find it in the yellow pages, the government ought to be doing it. this is really breathtaking. we're taking over cars, banks, insurance companies, we're taking over more of health care. we'll just take over the student loan program. >> does he have a point? >> i don't think so. i obviously respect the senator very much. president bush was the one who lent billions of dollars of the taxpayers' money to the automobile industry. he put 230 million dollar there are into banks representing three quarters of our entire banking stip. when this president came in, we moved very quickly to get that money back from the banks. we have got 170 billion of that back almost all from the major banks at a positive return to the taxpayer. we've worked quickly to clean up the mess we inherited and get the government out from th

lamar alexander and bob corker. said, if the american government can pay the taxes for these bureaucrats to get that $200,000 a month track, how come they cannot set up another program and called a it the ihs? internal health services? tax the people just like the way the irs is doing. provide america at a health program. then america will trust their leaders again. host: thank you. we want to give our guests a chance to respond. guest: there were a lot of ideas tabled in there. i think people are frustrated by the complexity of this. it is understandable. the legislative process is a bit of sausage-making, we like to say. that is why people are grateful for c-span because they get into it into what is happening to some degree, is the nature of the business. when someone talked about putting this on the ballot for a referendum -- what will be on the ballot? what should be in the bill? those are the kinds of discussions that almost half to take place in quiet rooms between each other. frankly, i thought president oba

you bring up history and this is a momentous vacation and even senator lamar alexander, a republican senator pointing out a historic occasion for the president and if the president passes it, it could go down in history with the likes of social security and medicare. >> here is what i think is interesting, the that is the people who switched their votes yesterday, the democrats mind you who switched votes yesterday from yes originally to no. now, this of course is after the president has gone for a pep rally yesterday afternoon. here is interesting case in point. congressman michael arcuri, democrat from new york, changed his vote to no. the president had personally lobbied him and rahm emanuel, but at the end of the day the public doesn't understand what's in the bill or how it's going to be helpful and doesn't think it keeps health care costs in check though he says he supports health care reform and i find him interesting because part of the argument if you support health care reform then lets get this passed and fix it later, finesse it later down the line and he isn't buying tha

. >> if reconciliation is really the end of the senate, how come senator lamar alexander has voted for it four times? more gop obstructionism, this time courtesy of senator jim bunning. the gentleman from kentucky's legislative road block is worse than we thought. hundreds of thousands of americans lose their unemployment and health benefits. thousands of federal workers are left without pay. but mr. bunning isn't taking any questions. >> excuse me. this is a senator only elevator. >> devastation in chile. the death toll from saturday's quake passes 700. looters take to the streets. as aid slowly trickles in. the race to find survivors continues. all of the news and commentary now on "countdown." >>> good evening from los angeles. cobra, the health insurance benefits americans are allowed to keep even after they have lost a job passed by budget reconciliation. the program got its strange name, in fact, from the first letters of the title of the bill it was contained in. the consolidated omnibus budget reconciliation act of 1986. the children's health insurance program known as s-chip w

in premium costs and for those in the individual market the average premium as you said, and lamar alexander said would go up 10 to 13% and the cbo added that those folks would get better policies policies and well over half would get sub kaesidies that wo reduce their costs below the premiums that would be charged in such policies under current law. >> if you had subsidies, sure. but, let's get the point clear. we're not going to have more insurance competition under the new law, we'll have less insurance competition, and that will increase prices and if you put more mandates on insurance as this does it federalizes the regulation of health insurance, displacing states rights it will make it more expensive and what the bill attempts to do is, yes, make health insurance much more expensive and have washington subsidize more of it, to try and limit people's out of pock costs, and that is a -- out-of-pocket costs is a deficit and cost nightmare and you'll put more costs on the backs of the taxpayers at the end of the day, let's talk about the question of cost, because that is something you bro

here's republican senator lamar alexander about that. >> i was thinking this morning of president georgeso hard to have private accounts for social security. he thought he was right. he pushed and he pushed and he pushed. if he'd stopped about halfway through and shifted, he could have probably gotten the bipartisan agreement on social security. i think president obama could learn from that. >> well, dan bartlett was counselor to president george w. bush and communications director. he's currently an analyst for cbs and is good enough to join us this morning. dan, thanks for being with us. >> good morning. thanks for having me. >> so what parallels do you see between the president's health care fight now and your former boss's fight over social security back then? are some of the same mistakes being made, the same obstacles being run into? >> well, it is interesting. at the beginning of this process, there were a lot of comparisons to what this administration was going to do differently from bill clinton's first attempt at health care reform. and i didn't hear a lot of analysis of what w

. >> rose: republicans seem convinced-- lamar alexander said that-- that that democrats go to the reconciliationcess that it's going to be deadly for them in the general election in 2010 at the congressional level. are they right? is he right? did you're in? i mean, i realize that you didn't fear for yourself but do you fear that for fellow democrats? the house especially? >> the health care debate has gone against the democratic party for a number of reasons. some of which are without merit and some of which you can argue back and forth. i don't think the use of the reconciliation process will matter that much to the american people. they want to know about the substance. and so if they're concerned that it's going to run up the deficit and that kind of thing or raise their taxes, even if it's not true, that may work against us. >> rose: or restrict their medicare. >> correct. or their access to their own physician and that sort of thing 97% or 98% of voters have health insurance. what they don't like are some of the aspects of pre-existing conditions, lifetime caps, aspects they'd like more se

and what made it attractive to me as i was approached by lamar alexander was from the secretary and he said we want to do something about academic standards. i boast you're very passionate about things like english and literature and history and geography, civics, the whole range of liberal arts and sciences. and i thought jesus was to get the conversation going in the country about improving what kids learn, this would be very important. so i was in d.c. and the government for all those years. >> host: we don't have a lot of time and there's a lot to talk about in the book, so what i'd like you to tell us a little bit is what prompted you to start writing the book? when did she say i've got to do this? >> guest: i guess it was about three years ago i realized i was really changing a lot of the abuse i have had over the past jackson told the bush administration. i have been advocating for standards and for choice and charter schools and occasionally for vouchers does not hew shooter for vouchers. i did so thinking maybe this is the way that all children will have access to high-quality

people appointed as the chair and co-chair, hillary clinton, wife of the governor of arkansas lamar alexander, governor of tennessee at the time. they turned out to be very good people for that job and this is one of the best assessments we have for measuring whether our kids are doing the math. now this issue is i can get is crunch time. i think it is sputnik again because we know what it costs just if we are focused on our fiscal house and economic recovery, we know what it costs not to have good sound educational practice. it costs a ton of money. .. >> host: we started the show by telling about competitiveness in china and america and education, and understanding in history and ending with education. let me sum it up and away in what worries you and what incur you about the notion of america being competitive in in the 21st century the way it was in the 20th? how do we educate our kids and not fall behind the way we seem to be falling behind in our k-12 education? >> guest: alright, what encourages me? i will tell you what discourages me. i know you have seen a million assessments and hav

and what made it attractive to me was that i was approached by lamar alexander, the then secretary, and he said we want to do something about academic standards, and i've always cared very passionately about things like english and literature and history and geography, six, the whole range of liberal arts and sciences. and so i thought if we could really get the conversation going in this country about improving what kids learn, this would be a very important. so i was in d.c. in the government for almost two years. >> host: now, let's -- we don't have a lot of time, and there's a lot to talk about in the book. so what i would like you to tell us a little bit is what prompted you to start writing the book. when did you say i've got to do this? >> guest: well, i guess it was about three years ago i realized that i was really changing a lot of the views that i have had since all of the bush administration. i had been advocating for standards and for testing and accountability and choice and charter schools, and occasionally for vouchers though i was not a huge cheerleader for vouchers. bu

senate republican conference chair lamar alexander, and maryland democratic senator. you can listen to all five of the talk shows beginning at noon at eastern right here on c- span radio. follow us on facebook and twitter. >> the renovation of the pentagon has made it much harder for a reporter to just walk around because more spaces are now behind doors where i cannot go unless escorted. >> tonight, national correspondent on covering the military here domestically and in iraq and afghanistan. >> when i hear president obama said that he is president of all-america i say obsolete, and i'm glad that we are one. >> monday night come smiley's black agenda forum with his guests. it is that a 30 p.m. eastern on c-span2. this weekend, on "book tv" from new york -- former education secretary examines america at the end of the 20th-century in beginning of the 21st. he is interviewed by the former editor at "time" magazine. "washington journal" continues. >> our dunf sunday roundtable, thanks, gentlemen for being with us. the president's recent supplements are gaining some atte

host: senator lamar alexander yesterday on "this week" talked about what would happen politically should reconciliation procedure is a little-used procedure, for the purpose of taxing and spending and reducing deficits. the difference here is that there has never been anything of this size, magnitude, or complexity, run through the senate in this way. there are many technical problems that we could discuss. it would be the end of the united states senate as a protector of minority rights. it would be a political kamikaze mission for the democratic party if they jam this through after the american people have been saying look, we are trying to tell you in every way we know how, we do not want this. >> strong words, saying that it could be the end of the senate. guest: it struck me as a bit strong. he said it would be the end of the senate as the protector of minority rights. clearly, welfare reform went to reconciliation, which was as close to his big deal. host: why did it take that long to take that bill to go through? guest: there were not enough votes to close the filibuster. guest: i

on "face the nation" robert gibbs, lamar alexander, former representative schultz, and karen of america'sealth insurance plans. on a "state of the union" talking with david axelrod and house republican leader john boehner. you can listen to all five of the sunday morning talk shows beginning at noon eastern starting on c-span radio. and follow us on both facebook and twitter. >> today, your chance to speak to karl rove, live on booktv. he would take your phone calls, e-mail, and tweets on his new memoir. afterward, race relations in america. all weekend, continuing coverage of this year's tucson festival of books. find the entire schedule that booktv.org. >> obama and his socialistic ideas -- this is a life lesson in progress right now for conservatives. >> tonight, founder and president of the clare booth policy institute on her work to promote conservative women in leadership roles. host: healthcare is one of the issues that will dominate our discussion in the week ahead. joining us is david, a contributing editor to "west coast" and also, a reporter from "the washington examiner." what

i'd like to quote senator lamar alexander about this entire process. he said "what the president is doing is asking house democrats to hold hands, jump off a cliff, and hope harry reid catches them." i don't know that harry reid will be able to catch them. i'll say this. if there are budget points of order that need to be waived in this scheme that the majority leader has about cleaning the statute up in conference, i'm not going to be part of 60 votes to waive that poured. -- to waive that point of order. it will all be on mr. reid and his teammates over there to get this done because i will not be a part of waiving points of order, helping them get to a supermajority to clean up something, even if it needs to be done. this process needs to be stopped, and the next -- i'd say the next 10-14 days are going to tell the tale. the american people do not want this bill, and it's up to the house of representatives and to us saying what we can over on the senate side to see if we're going to listen to the people and stop this bill, go back to the drawing boa

[applause] senator lamar alexander, republican of tennessee.inner in 2012 and everybody's favorite cameraman, it j. mcmichael's. [cheers and applause] chair of the house rules committee, straight from health care debate central, louise slaughter from new york. [applause] dave mcconnell, debut tpl news r. tca executive committee and outgoing treasurer, linda kenyon of crn news. [applause] and of course, you know mr. vice president. [applause] you can clap. our association is fortunate to have the house and senate radio tv gallery staff. they help us do our job every day on behalf of the r. tca, i want to extend a special thank you. these folks are the heart and soul of making the daily coverage on capitol hill possible. on the house side, were mirus kornacki, a life, gil davis, ken otis, helen debarge and anthony kelleher. on the senate side, director mike mostert on, michael lawrence, aaron gagnon, chris boyd and arlen salazar. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, rtca awards court nader, jill jackson at cbs news. [cheers and applause] good even

and lamar alexander, my colleague from tennessee as well; part of that committee. while we didn't come together on the final passage of that bill, i want to express my gratitude to them and to their staffs as well for contributions made to this product. even though they might not be anxious to acknowledge the contributions, they made contributions to this bill. we're all grateful to them for that. of course my staff as well, who did such a wonderful job. to mark mcgerk and jeremy sharp as well, here with me on the floor today, mr. president, along with many others who did such a fabulous job in providing us with the support and assistance on all of this. this legislation we've heard the words historic and sometimes those words are thrown around a little too lightly and a little too cavalier a fashion to describe other events. but today truly was historic. i've been here 30 years, and i can't think of another day quite like it in terms of the annals of our nation to provide at long last the ability to have a national health care plan. for tens of millions of ordinar

as somebody pointed out my colleague, lamar alexander, if you took all of the profits of all of the insurance companies, it pays for two days worth of health care expenditures in the country. what about the other 363 days no one is blaming the insurance companies, they are primarily passing the costs on. so, bottom line, mr. president, is that we need to be honest and explain to the american people what we're really trying to accomplish here or what we should be trying to accomplish is reducing health care costs. that will make access easieror people because they will be able to afford the insurance that now may be unaffordable for them. but that the idea that the insurance companies are the reason we have the problem or that the emergency rooms are used more because of the uninsured are two myths that are dispelled in this piece by robert samuelson. mr. president, i -- i yield to my colleague from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: first of all, i thank the senator from oklahoma for yielding. unanimous consent that i be recogniz

i listened intently to my friend and colleague from tennessee, lamar alexander, talk about this part of the bill as well. i have great admiration for him, having served as our secretary of healt education. we disagree with this particular portion. i want to express a different point of view, mr. president, about why i believe what we have included in this bill has great value. obviously the major ateption has been focused on the health aspects of what we're doing. and that in itself would be a major achievement. in the reconciliation portion of this bill before us now, strengthens this bill maingsdz it eve -- strengthens this billd makes it even better. last night i discussed the valiant efforts. the education portion of this bill also has great significance. since the pell grant was established in the 1970's, as all of us in this chamber know, it has made college a possibility for millions and millions of young americans. i have the great, great pleasure of serving with claiborne pell. he was a member of this body. he served in the late 1960's up to a few years ago. we lost him a fe