max baucus, obama, and the democrats took it off the table. they replaced it with a 2000 page monstrosity. single-payer by contrast is simple and it works. under such a system the day that you were born you get a medical card with your name on. with this you get a free choice of doctor and hospital anywhere in the u.s. you pay no health care premiums to private health insurance corporations. you receive no bills. instead of the premiums now we would pay that amount or less into one public insurance pool. everybody in, nobody out. single-payer saves lives. 45,000 americans die every year right now from lack of health insurance. under a single payer system zero americans would die every year through lack of health insurance. because everybody would recover. single-payer covers everyone and saves money. we would replace the hundreds of private health insurance payers with one public payer. in one stroke we would take $400 billion per year in administrative waste profits and overhead and use those to insure everyone. single-payer would then use it

a group of us stood up and asked max baucus to give voice to some doctors to favor single-payer. we were in the hearing room and stood up. senator baucus had us all arrested were charged with destruction of congress. this man takes so much insurance industry money -- this is the problem with democrats -- they're taking insurance industry money and cut a dirty deal with obama. they say if you take single- payer of the bill, we will support it. and they did. it was right before the gavel came down. i was the first one to stand up and say, senator baucus, we need to do this -- could you please let this doctor testified? this week, later, a group of activists are going to call this bill of turkey, called for its defeat -- it is a 2000 page monstrosity. single-payer activists are opposing this bill. we want them to start from scratch enjoying congressman kucinich and others who voted against it. it is a bill of health insurance industry. start from scratch and push for single-payer. that press conference will be at the national press club on wednesday. host: what date was it when you

we are sorry that max baucus is not here. there are elements of this bill that senator dodd has worked on for years, issues that you have worked on for many years are now part of this legislation. we can see the finish line, but we are not there. we have not yet crossed that line. the road ahead is a long stretch. we can see the finish line. we have the momentum that will keep this process moving. i have no doubt. we know that not what -- not all 100 senators agree, but we must move forward they agree on the vast majority. probably more than 90% for sure. all democrats know that now is the time to make sure that all americans have access to affordable health care. when this debate begins on the floor, the differences will be clear to the american people. they will see our plan. our plan saves lives, money and saves medicare. they will see the republican alternative, which i am sorry to say is nonexistent, so it keeps our broken system just the way it is. it lets it get even worse. we are really happy with this bill. we welcom

i thank max baucus from montana for his tireless work.bers of the committees that have worked for the past many months to bring us to this moment. others this evening have spoken with great eloquence about the provisions of this bill, what we hope to achieve for our fellow citizens with the adoption of this legislation. i want to comment the senate health committee who did such heroic work during the writing of our portion of the bill. my colleagues tom harken of iowa, barbara mikulski. patty murray from the state of washingtoners so many others. i want to thank my republican committees of that committee as well. while we didn't end up with a bipartisan vote, at the end of president,q we did end up adopting more than 150 amendments offered by our republican colleagues, which i think strengthened the legislation and made in a better piece of the legislation that we ha have. i want to pause for a moment if i can, mr. president, to recognize a colleague who is here tonight only in spirit, ted kennedy. so much has been said and written about

senator max baucus, the chair of the committee, had scheduled three days of hearings on health-care reformhe had asked 41 health-care experts in. not one was an advocate for single-payer national health insurance. single payer is a clear reform. the bill is only 30 pages long. max baucus, obama, and the democrats had taken it off of the table and replaced it with a 2000-page monstrosity. single payer, by contrast, is simple, and it works. under this system, the day you are born, you get a card that gives you a free choice of doctors and hospitals anywhere in the united states. you pay no health-care premiums. you receive no bills. instead of the premiums we are paying now, we would pay that amount or less. everybody in. nobody out. single payer saves lives. right now, 45,000 americans die every year from lack of health insurance. under a single-payer system, fewer americans would die every year from lack of health insurance. why? because everybody would be covered. single payer covers everyone. we would replace the health insurance payers with one. in one stroke, we would say $400 billion

becker thing happened, -- teabagger thing, a bunch of you were arrested at the max baucus hearings. was it a mistake to step away from that? >> that was a legal settlement. it was a legal settlement and it was a plea agreement. we agreed -- we did not plead guilty. we said we would not protest in congress through the end of the year and the charge would be dropped. that was the agreement. >> [inaudible] >> we can get arrested but the consequences would be severe potentially. we should focus on the democratic leadership in congress, they are the ones that created this bill and a bailout. we should get arrested up there. we should hold their feet to the fire. they are the ones who are responsible for this bill and we want it defeated. >> [inaudible] >> it is pretty difficult to get 13 people and to be arrested for single payer and we pulled it off. it did not trigger a wave or enter and we did not see a lot of people who wanted to do this. i think that we should continue. we are continuing to agitate and we will continue to focus. keep your eyes on these websites. singlepayeraction.or

max baucus chairs the finance committee. this portion is 45 minutes. >> the hearing will come to order. let me begin by saying chairman baucus could not be with us this morning because he is with his mother, who is ill in montana, and we want to send our best from all the members of the committee to senator baucus and his mother, and we are hoping for her swift recovery. we are looking forward to the time that senator baucus comes back to resume the chairmanship of this committee. we have a hearing this morning for a number of nominees, and we will get to that momentarily. i'm going to make a brief opening statement. then senator grassley will have an opening statement. at some point i want to alert people here and prap programs who are listening, that if we are able to achieve a quorum. we will break from this proceeding in order to approve mom niece that have previously been heard. so no one take offense if we interrupt this proceeding once we achieve a quorum, if we are able to do that so that we are able to take action on

, let me extend my hear heartfelt thanks to our majority leader for his tireless work, to thank max baucus of montana for his tireless work, the members of the committees that have worked over the past many, many months to bring us to this moment, others this evening have spoken with great eloquence, in my view, about the provisions of this bill, what we hope to achieve for our fellow citizens with the adoption of this legislation. i want to commend the senate "help" committee, which did such heheroic work during the writing of our portion of the bill. my colleagues, senator harkin, barbara mikulski, jeff bingaman, patty murray of the state of washington and so many others. i want to thank my republican colleagues of that committee as well. while we didn't end up with a bipartisan vote at the end of that very long process, mr. president, we did end up adopting more than 150 amendments offered by my republican colleagues to that bill, which i think strengthened the legislation and made it a better piece of legislation that we have as a part of us this evening. i also want to pause for a mom

and then the finance committee under the able leadership of my friend and classmate, senator max baucus of montana. they did their work and then the two bills had to be put together, and that was done by the majority leader. and he did a masterful job of putting the two bills together and getting it down to the congressional budget office and getting a score on what it would cost, what it would cover. and when we solve the bill combat that we now have in front of us, the so-called merged bill truly is a port of genius by the majority leader. i said the other day that he has the patience of job, the wisdom of solomon and the stamina of samson to get this job done. and i also salute of the senators, democrats and republicans, whose ideas or incorporated in this bill. it is a robust bill. it went to a long bipartisan process and in our committee we had 13 days, 54 hours republicans were full-fledged participants. they offered 210 amendments, we accepted 161 many of them making substantive changes in the bill. a similar open and inclusive process was followed in the finance committee. and

senator max baucus the chair of the committee had scheduled three days of hearings on health care reform. bachus asked 41 health care experts to testify. not one was an advocate for single payer national health insurance. single payer is a simple, clear reform. the house single payer bill, h.r. 676 is only 30 pages long. bachus, obama and the democrats have taken off the table. and they've replaced it with a 2,000 page monstrosity. single payer by contrast is simple, and it works. under a single payer system, the day that you are born you get a medical card. with this card to get free choice of doctor and hospital anywhere in the united states. you pay no health care premiums to private health insurance corporations. you receive no bills. instead of the premiums we pay now, we would pay that amount or less into one public insurance pool. everybody in, nobody out. single payer saves lives, right now 45,000 americans die every year from lack of health insurance. under a single payer system, zero americans would die every year from lack of health insurance. why? because everybody would be c

. >> although chuck grassley was negotiating all summer with max baucus. while he was doing that, they were publicly suggesting there would be a challenge. at the same time, tom harkin took that occasion to tell one of the newspapers that maybe we should start voting every two years on whether chairman keep their cavils. -- on whether chairman keep their gavels. is it a question of individual leaders or is there now a structural force represents the kind of things that baucus and crassly seems to know what to do -- grassley seem to know what to do? >> with the democratic majority in the house and senate, he does not have to reach across the aisle. he does that have to present legislation that is acceptable to mainstream republicans been. i think the main thing we can do is take away the majority. >> when you alluded to something earlier, any time a republican tries to be bipartisan, he gets crushed the next day by sean, rush, o'reilly, they automatically start rallying a candidate to run against them. it is a structural impediment to buy partisanship. >> h

senator max baucus the chair of the committee had scheduled three days of hearings on health care reform. bachus asked 41 health care experts to testify. not one was an advocate for single payer national health insurance. single payer is a simple, clear reform. the house single payer bill, h.r. 676 is only 30 pages long. bachus, obama and the democrats have taken off the table. and they've replaced it with a 2,000 page monstrosity. single payer by contrast is simple, and it works. under a single payer system, the day that you are born you get a medical card. with this card to get free choice of doctor and hospital anywhere in the united states. you pay no health care premiums to private health insurance corporations. you receive no bills. instead of the premiums we pay now, we would pay that amount or less into one public insurance pool. everybody in, nobody out. single payer saves lives, right now 45,000 americans die every year from lack of health insurance. under a single payer system, zero americans would die every year from lack of health insurance. why? because everybody would be c

senator max baucus of montana state -- chairs the finance committee. just under an hour. >> the hearing will come to order. let me begin by saying chairman baucus could not be with us this morning because he is with his mother who is ill in montana, and we want to send our best from all the members of the committee to senator baucus and his mother, and we are hoping for hearse with recovery -- for her swift recovery. we're looking for to the time that senator baucus comes back to resume the chairmanship of this committee. we have a hearing this morning for a number of nominees, and we will get to that momentarily. i am going to make a brief opening statement, and then, senator grassley will have an opening statement. at some point, i want to alert people who are here and people who are perhaps listening that if we are able to achieve a quorum, we will break from this proceeding in order to approve nominees that had previously been heard. so no one take offense if we interrupt this proceeding once we achieve a quorum if we are able to do that so that we

host: here is a headline this morning from "the new york times" -- party for cash, senator max baucus will be busy trying to steer a massive health care reform through congress, but not so busy that he will be able to find time to hit >> we'll leave "washington journal" at this point to go live to the state department for remarks from richard holbrooke. this is live coverage on c-span. >> with her, of course, was our special representative for afghanistan and pakistan, richard holbrooke. we thought it was important now that there is a government in place, in afghanistan, for which to come back down to kind of put her trip in context and chart the way forward on the civilian side of the strategy as we await the decision by the president on the military component. with that, richard? >> thanks. i'm here to report on secretary clinton's trip to afghanistan and happy to talk, too. i want to explain these members of our team from our office. this is not our whole team. these are just some of the people. but i'd like each one of them just to stand, identify who they are, and what they do be