. >> mike viqueira live at the white house. when we look at the schedule, the president had no public appearanc appearances, what's going on? >> when we see that we think they're going to pop something on us and it's clear the democrats and president obama are now trying to get ahead of this thing the cbo did yesterday. the director telling the white house that the cost, the long-term costs of health care are going to rise as a result of the legislation he's seen so far coming through congress. that dropped like a bombshell here in washington because the purpose of this entire exercise is to do just something about those very costs. to have that cost curve go down, not up. well into the evening, past sun-up today, committees were working on their version of this legislation. two of the three committees handling it came forward with their bills and into the morning, there's still one other committee that's going to be working into the middle of next week. house members sought to get out ahead of that after that bomb was dropped

nbc's mike viqueira is at the white house tonight with more. mike, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. cia director leon panetta killed the program as soon as he learned of its existence. but that has not stopped the flood of anger from key members of congress who were kept in the dark during the eight years of the program at the urging of the former vice president, dick cheney. >> we are a nation at war. >> reporter: panetta himself first learned of the secret program on june 23rd. the very next day traveling to the capitol where he broke the news to members of the intelligence committees. >> he was told that the vice president had ordered that the program not be briefed to the congress. >> reporter: though details remain classified, the cia is required to tell congress of its operations. democrats are outraged. >> they have a massive program that is concealed from the leaders in congress. it is not only inappropriate, it could be illegal. >> reporter: and the allegation that it was mr. cheney himself who directed cia briefers to k

>> nbc's mike viqueira at the white house tonight. mike, thank you for that. >>> john harwood is cnbc's chief washington correspondent. he joins us with some more on this john, democrats and republicans are obviously urging the president to slow down on the issue. is the white house listening? >> well, i don't think they're listening to the calls to slow down. the president realizes that his political capital will only dwindle over time, but i do think they're listening to the calls to ramp up cost controls. that's why you saw the president late last week begin to emphasize more volume ewablely his support for a commission that would trim medicare spending over time. he's going to try to use that to convince moderate democrats and some republicans that he's more serious about cost controls than some democrats have been so far. >> to hammer some of that out, is there any indication that this self-imposed deadline to get the house and senate to pass a bill before the august recess could be extended in any way? >> the house, i believe, i

>> nbc's mike viqueira at the white house. thanks. >>> this was space walk day for two astronauts aboard the shuttle "endeavour," they're helping it attach a platform for five experiment, it's the first of five planned space walks during this shuttle mission. >>> now the investigation into two deadly suicide bomb attacks on two american hotels in indonesia. police have confiscated a handwritten notes, cell phone and a bomb from the jakarta marriott, one of the hotels targeted. investigator are now more sure than ever the mastermind was the fugitive leader of a southeast asian terror group. >>> now to the middle east, in a transformation that some have called a small wonder. in nablus there's hope in a place where law and order has been restored for the first time in years. martin fletcher in nablus. >> reporter: what a transformation. nablus was known as the west bank's hotbed of terror. today it's the palestinian shopping capital, the change begins here at the entrance was israel's roadblock controlling palestinians coming an

and mike viqueira is dead on the money, chris. this thing has had a terrible week with the cbo report. mike mentions $239 billion for the deficit. that would take this year's deficit over $2 trillion. it's already at 13% of the entire economy. the country is getting tremendously upset over deficits, and spending. this is why the tide is going out very slowly on obama himself. chris, i think if the president does not get it through both houses when this congress goes home for an august recess, and he's guys are really pounded on the jobs issue, deficits, and spending, i think the bill is in very, very grave trouble. here's what i think will happen after that. one of two things. obama will either have to downsize this fairly dramatically and find a way to pay for it that people accept. or he will have to railroad it through over republicans and dissident democrats, by putting it on reconciliation. i think it's in real trouble. >> do you think it's in real trouble here, in the sense that it can't be salvaged? you don't think that over

. >> mike viqueira at the white house and they know you can talk, but until people get to work and we see a slow down in the loss of jobs, it won't hit home. >> all the academics and economists are fond of saying it's a lagging indicator, but that doesn't give anybody any traction. 15% in places like michigan as we speak. the president's ever mindful of that, always reminding folks that it is a lagging indicator. the gdp might go into a decline. but still, the unemployment rate is expected to recover more slowly. that is typical of every recession and that has been noted as the worst since the great depression. yes, the president will walk over for dinner -- we'll having a really auntie em moment here at the white house. the economy -- >> mike -- go ahead. >> this meeting is a six-month thing. the white house says it's happened since the eisenhower administration. the good news, bad news, the president's poll numbers flipping somewhat. afghanistan, the commander wants more troops. that's going to be unpopular. the good news, the recession appears to be slowing down. today, the verb th

it's the big story at the white house today, so let's bring in nbc's mike viqueira. mike, what is the pushback, first, against what the house democrats have done and what the cbo reported yesterday? >> reporter: i've got to tell you, andrea, it is on when it comes to health care policy in this debate. i've just seen some 30, 35 house democrats march down the white house driveway for a meeting with rahm emanuel on the issue of health care. it's not out of the question that we would see the president speak on this issue today. we have seen the house democratic leadership, nancy pelosi, steny hoyer, charlie rangel, the two lieutenants who have worked into the night and into daybreak, 6:00 a.m. on the case of one committee, working on this health care legislation, all trying to get out ahead of that bomb that was dropped by bob el mendorf yesterday who said that the cost curve in fact, in his estimation is going to go up, not down. and turning the cost curve down is one of the main rationales along with insuring the 50 million americans who do not have insurance. the stak

nbc correspondent mike viqueira joins us live from capitol hill with a preview. poll shows the president's popularity has taken a bit of a hit. what's he need to say tonight to win over opponents of his health care plan? >> reporter: the president's overall popularity has always run ahead of the individual policies. now it's becoming even more of a spread. the deficit and in health care, the numbers are going down somewhat. the president tried very hard in his first term to take advantage of the high approval numbers and push through main priorities, talking about energy and health care. but he's running into problems, as you well know, here in congress. both on the house side where conservative democrats and freshmen vulnerable democrats who ran in districts that voted for george bush and john mccain and that -- yet, improbably want as democrats. they are very afraid of the surtax on the wealthiest americans that would be used in the house bill to pay for health care reform. that'shy all eyes are on the senate at this point. day after day after day. virtually ev

now mike viqueira joins us. that is the white house, right, mike?u know, i was wondering what toes puffy white things were -- >> an armadillo with a marshmallow. armadillo bait. world's greatest deliberative body, united states senate. amazing the things you will learn. july 3rd, do you remember it? we were working when sarah palin dropped that bombshell, not only was she not going to run for re-election as governor of alaska, but she was going to quit altogether. at the time of the festive annual alaska's governor's picnic. there will be three of them starting today actually, today, tomorrow, and culminating in fairbanks on sunday when they will formally hand over the reins of the governorship of alaska to the lieutenant governor sean parnell. >>> also next week in the senate judiciary committee they will get around to voting on the nomination of sonia sotomayor to be the next supreme court justice. it's assumed that she will win that vote with people like lindsay graham voting on her behalf, orrin hatch being against it notwithstanding. then onto

it's a setback no matter how you slice it. >> mike viqueira just outside cleveland. thanks for the report. >>> now, in the big picture, a fact check on health care reform. president obama is trying to make his case to the american people on why health care is needed, but are all the claims we're hearing from the obama administration true? here is what president obama is saying about the republicans and playing politics. >> you haven't seen me out there blaming the republicans. i have been a little frustrated by some of the misinformation that's been coming out of the republicans. >> but that's not entirely accurate. here is what the president did say about the republicans earlier in the news conference. >> i've heard that one republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to compromise, it's better politics to go for the kill. another republican senator that defeating health care reform is about breaking me. >> alec burns is a reporter with politico. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> we heard john boehner say that the president w

mike viqueira joins us live from washington. good sunday morning to you. this is a setback for the democrats. how big? >> reporter: another setback to be certain. remember it was about ten days ago when the congressional budget office came back and said, you know what? this plan on capitol hill right now is not going do reduce long-term health care costs. that's the stated goal of the administration and president obama because it's such a drag on the economy now and getting bigger. one-fifth of the company by 2020. to alleviate the problem, president obama time and time again over the last several day s at his press conference, town hall in cleveland, ohio, said he was going to create a commission of doctors and professionals that would look at medicare payments and crack down on a lot of wasted medicare. cbo playing spoil sport again. the congressional budget office comes out with a letter to democratic leaders in the house yesterday and said it's only going to save $2 billion over the next ten years. the probability is after that it won't save much more

. >> msnbc's correspondent mike viqueira joins us live from washington. so it's a final good morning to you, mike. >> good morning, alex. >> how is the president's health care plan going to help the economy according to this new white house study? >> alex, as so often the case in washington, the debate comes down to a three-letter word ending in "x." of course i'm talking about tax. the tax that would be levied on the wealthiest americans to help pay for this health care reform proposal is what is so contentious. at least part of what's so contentious here in congress. of course, many people, republicans chiefly, say that this would be a tax on small businesses. because of the way they report their income. and that it would be forced to shed jobs as opposed to hiring jobs. and that, after all, is the point of this exercise. to help the economy by reducing the cost of health care. enough democratic freshmen have bought in to that idea that they are seriously getting traction out of republicans and helping to defeat, or at least put this health care reform i

house report says small businesses pay 18% more for health insurance than larger firms and nbc's mike viqueira joins us live. we know he's at the white house. mike, how will the health care plan help the economy according to this new study? >> well, this is an in-house study from the council of economic advisers. and this represents a subtle shift in emphasis for the president here as his message previously about health care notwithstanding the fact that he's been out there in all different kinds of venues, town halls, private arm twisting sessions, cajoling sessions in the west wing inviting members of congress. his health care reform on the ropes in congress. so plan "b," let's talk about the benefits this will have to people like small businesses who, after all, face an increasing cost curve going this way, going upward, that means that they are increasing their burdens, the percentage of their payroll, the percentage of their revenues that they have to spend to give their employees health care. the president now talking about the need to bend that curve downward, trying to emphasize that,

nbc's mike viqueira joins us live from outside the white house. good morning. i understand that the president's budget director not really a fan of this new report. >> reporter: and with good reason if you're an advocate of the president's health care plan. it came out ten days ago, the congressional budget office said, look, this plan as it is being formulated in congress would not cut long-term costs in health care, would not curb the growth of health care costs in this country, which is a major stated objective of the administration. instead, they'd see costs rise. so president obama came up with a solution. he would create a commission to oversee medicare expenditures he said would take the politics out of it and help curb those costs. the cbo again playing spoil sport, comes out with a letter day saying it would only cut costs over the next ten years of some $2 billion. that's a fraction, doesn't even scratch the surface of the cost of health care moving forward. they further said it is unlikely that it will affect long-term costs even after that. they do

. >> nbc's mike viqueira is at the white house. what kind of resistance is the president facing from congress? >> the president's trying to emphasize the fact that his plan would emphasize preventive care and therefore, cut cost to the government. a lot of people use the emergency room, particularly lower income americans, use the emergency room as their doctor. whenever they don't feel well, whenever they feel as though they need to go see somebody, they go to the emergency room and that is a burden on the medicaid system in this country. they're also emphasizing the fact that this would end up having resulting in cheaper health care costs for all americans. but the president's talking about the deficit, and its impact on the deficit, and he got some bad news last night. the congressional budget office looked at the legislation that's now making its way through the house of representatives and said over ten years, as a matter of fact, this would add $239 billion to the deficit. and then there's the larger and perhaps more difficul

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. >> well, mike viqueira's traveling with the president and joins us now. when you look at the polling out there, those americans in the polls are not receptive. >> reporter: and it's not going well in washington at all. we can now say that the goal posts have been moved. they have revised and extended their deadline. the president's been saying for weeks he wanted a vote on the house and senate floor before they went on vacation. it's clear that the is that the and the house are going to get that far. the president is at shaker heights high school, home of the raiders, just east of cleveland, ohio. he says, i want to get this done by the end of this year. i want it done by the fall. he expects votes in the finance committee, the senate and the senate to continue moving forward, but there is no guarantee because the senate has been struggling behind closed doors for weeks. republicans are expected to throw up roadblocks if they do come up with a product. a lot of hurdles left to go. i think any way you slice it that this delay here does not portend well for

mike viqueira has the story. >> reporter: the president left for camp david after making another pitch >> think about what doing nothing in the face of ever increasing costs will do to your and your family. >> reporter: the signature issue of the obama first term now threatened in congress. the president responding this week by keeping the heat on, trying to shore up support. >> we are going to change health care reform. >> reporter: the plan moving through congress now would create a government-run option for insurance, and require all americans to be insured, and force most businesses to either offer a plan or pay a fee to the government. >> no longer will you be without health insurance, even if you lose your job or change your jobs. >> total cost? $1 trillion, paid for in part with a surtax on americans making more than $280,000 a year, and $300,000 for couples. in a blow to democrats, the bill now moving through the house would result in higher cost is the report. and democrats say they will make fixes. republicans are not onboard. >> i do not see any republican support at all at

nbc's mike viqueira is in washington, d.c. with more. mike. >> reporter: good morning, jenna. president obama says it's time to set aside old cold war arrive rivalries and repair relations with moscow. he's finding out that might not be so easy. in the last evening at home before leaving for russia, the president welcomed several hundred military families to the white house lawn to enjoy the fourth of july celebrations. >> we simply wanted to say, thank you, to each and every one of you for the extraordinary service to our country. >> reporter: tonight he leaves for a summit with russian leaders, at least one of whom the president believes remains stuck in the past. >> i believe putin has one foot in the old ways of doing business and one not if the new. >> reporter: that comment is -- where president putin still holds considerable sway. but like it or not, on monday, when mr. obama sits down with putin's hand-picked successor, they'll wrestle with many issues that echoed the cold war. russia is upset about american plans for a missile d

. >> let's go to mike viqueira. we can expect from the president in a few minutes? >> reporter: no, david, curious though this has been delayed some 47 minutes now. one wonders what exactly is going on that would force him to be delayed, whether it was some new speech, new rhetorical flourish being formulated, programs some news. some news we learned earlier today, there are more senators now, including some very influential democrats, who say let's put the brakes on this thing. let's perhaps not do this before august 7th when we're due to leave. this is a deadline that the president set in conjunction with democratic leaders. it works both ways. they set these deadlines because congress responds to deadlines, and yet this could turn out to be a trap of their own making. they have set this expectation. if they cannot meet the expectation to have this out of the house and senate, not a final version mind you, but out of the house and senate before they leave on that recess, peel will look at it and say the president'

msnbc congressional correspondent mike viqueira joins us fro capitol hill where the negotiations continue to unfold. mikewhere do things stand day? >> reporter:re is that rattng about how they're going to do this with or without republicans, but democrats have to get on the same page. we've had controversy in e last 24 hours whe harry reid has gone back to his chief that's bee sitting down in room after room, trying to hash somethg out that enough ople can get on brdwith. th have the procedure inlace to ram this throughif that's what they choose to do. but harry reid exessing reservations aut paying for it. sang that's not a god idea. in terms ofhe public optio everybody understandsthat this isot going to pass congres witht some kind of public option. ra emanuel, who spent a lot of me here, knows that this so-called trigger, lvehat as a allback option. that's somethi that modera democrathe blue gs, have proposed, but that's be a non-starter t house side. you going to tax sod pop? add a surchar on the wealthiestmericans? you going to attack the employer-provided benits? these are th things

. >> mike viqueira joins us now from washington. how is the president using the economy today to gain support for his health care plan? >> what you're seeing is a small shift as he tries to push his plan in congress and when you talk about congress first of all, alex, maybe it's always darkest before the dawn, but prospects for that legislation in the short term anyway, very dark as negotiations have di solved. perhaps it could be resolved next week. the president now choosing to emphasize, what would happen to those with insurance or employers already providing insurance. of course it is the cost of health care which represented almost 1/5 of the american economy, which is the aim here. to bend the curve of health care cost. if they're providing health care for their employees, they are paying more and more. and that is what the president and the white house now want to shift the focus to them as opposed to the 47 or 50 americans. that is still important, but this is what they're talking about. small business. >> can i get a timeli

. >> msnbc congresesononal cocoespondent mike viqueira joins us f fro citol hill. aa lot ofeoeoe werentntried about w wh speakaker pelosi wou say t tod i iher news coereren. e didn't d dictct take on the lalast commementfrfrom mr. mrpapatta? >> members of t t intelligence committee who ototehhis on their own volition. inintestingly, she was askededow tete she saks to leon papanea, he was a congressman from northern california,a, h ad nanancpepesi very well acququntntedith each her. she s sididhe hasn'tpopoen with hem since he was nominateded tbe the directorf centralal inlligence, shehe gether intellllenenceriefings she is itit toad from the speakerer from jim jones,, t the prident' own nationon s secity adviser. ththeryoyohave it. nanancpepelo accused the cia of lying to heher. ththis is over thatonontrersy f whoknknew what and when in term of watersboarding whennthe policycy w d dcide andcacarrd out.t. you hearard jnoeoeer say he's still waiting for nancy pelosi uld um upitith e goods or apologize e t thecia now comes the leleerer fm the democrats, many of thome

. >> nbc's mike viqueira live at the white house. ke what else did the president have to say this morning? >> reporter: good morning, chris. hardly a day goes by in last several weeks where president obama has not been out in one form or another touting health care proposal, pressing members of congress, including many in his own party to get with the program and help pass health care reform at least out of the house and senate. not a final version, but to keep this process moving by the time they go on august recess, that's two weeks hence, in the case of the house and three weeks in the case of the senate. things are not looking good. thursday the budget office director said, long-term health care costs are know going to go down, the stated rational for the exercise to begin with, no, instead they're going to go up. last night the same congressional budget office put forward cost estimates. in the enafter ten years this is going to increase the deficit by $239 billion but democrats have said all along, as the president they want thi

let's ask mike viqueira. he's the king of getting things done. >> reporter: get her done.t's what the president told leaders. that's one of the phrases he used, get her done, if you believe it. >> i do believe it. that being said, are they going to take those words and run? this whole sotomayor confirmation seems to be on track. we expect a vote maybe on tuesday. >> reporter: the house has two more weeks before they leave for five weeks for august recess. the senate has two more weeks. but this is touch and go on health care. we've had a number setbacks just this very day. first of all, max baucus is in charge of the finance committee. came out of a meeting today and told reporters the president is not helping us and not helping on a particular area of how to pay for this health care reform. in particular, the senate wants to option of taxing employer-provided benefits. the president wants to take that off the table as does harry reid. from what they've seen of all the legislation, this is going to have costs rise. the biggest rational perhaps in addition to covering the 5

that's something mike viqueira and i talked about briefly yesterday. ey overlap.it's intereing. >> solutely. > well, we wi, of course, keep a clo watch. here is an interesting one for u, tamron. uth carolina governor mark sanford reportedly hasis wife thank for being ab to keep his b. according tohe state newspaper, the week after governor sanford anunced his affair with an argennean woman, jenny sanford spoke to a handful of inflntial lawmakers to save his job. among those s spoke to was south carolina senator lindsey gram. interesting. >>> the fbi s set up a mobile command truck at aurban chicagocemetery in hos of trying to identify100,000 gres. four formerorkers at the cemetery accused of diggi up bodies to resell burialplots. investigators believe at least 300 bodi were dug up at burr oa cemetery and dumped mass grave. the historic african-american cemetery is were emmett till, an icon ofhe civil rights era, and blues singer dah washington are buried. >>> coming up, day one the sotomayor conation hearings. no realfireworks, those are expected tomorro >> we'll

nbc's mike viqueira has more. >> president obama trying to keep the hammer dourn in the face of opposition to his health care reform plan. that's coming from republicans and democrats as well. every day last week we heard president obama planned and some unplanned appearances coming out and talking about health care, the need to pass reform. on friday he appeared at an impromptu statement. he's been doing interviews throughout the week. now a prime time news conference as congress plans to go on recess for the entire month of august, not to return until labor day, house leaving january 31st and the senate a week after that. the plan was to have both the house and senate pass their own versions of a health care reform plan, but both the cost, the overall cost to the health care system, the way to pay for it through taxes on the wealthy is causing a lot of problems for president obama, a lot of resistance in congress. a big question of whether or not they can get it done by august at the very least, chris. >> that is the big question. let's talk about something that is a little lighter tomor

nbc's mikee viqueira is joioini us f fro t the white hohoe.e. leles look at the day t th is all going down. it's july 4th.. any sosort o m msasage with tha? >> reporter: i i think it's bee inintereted as a defiancnce and ovocation byououthkorea. t the united states isot going to take theebait. in t theninid states there are reportslmost each hour of a ww misissilalaun by nororth korea o off its east coast, totaling sevev altogether. th a a scud-type missiles. ththey don'travel intercrconneneally. theyey oyy travel 300 mimiless e sea of japan. there were r repts acouple eks ago thatorth korea was intetendg g trying t or planned to unch somethining o ot to hawaii way y ouinin t pacific ococnn a steps wereeiei taken by thehe.s.s. government and a coingency that thatat uld actually happen. apparently thus fafar, not even close to thaha and theu.u.s. governrnntnt inot taking the bait.. the white house herere i isot en issusug g aelease to ee action to the reported launches by y noh h korea. the e prididt just babackt t th whwhe e hoe for camp dad.d.

. >> nbc's mike viqueira live at the white house for us. of battle is the president up against in terms of health care reform? >> it's a battle royale. not a day goes by without the president making some sort of public comment on this huge fight in congress about health care reform, his signature issue in the first year of his administration. we know the story by now. the congressional budget office on thursday dropped a bomb on capitol hill and said the costs of health care are going to continue trending upward even giving some of the health care reform efforts pushed forward by democrats something directly contrary to what the democrats and president have claimed. the president yesterday had no public events on his schedule but saw fit to come out in the diplomatic room here at the white house and sort of an impromptu statement, came out very forcefully saying we are going to get this done. the deadline he has imposed on the house and senate is to have something out of each respective chamber, not the final legislation by the time they go

mike viqueira joins us live from washington. good sunday morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, alex. >> i'm understanding the president's budget director isn't a particular fan of this report? >> reporter: no. the irony is he used to be the head of the ng co-al budget office, the author of this report. the only thing good you can say about this report if you're a democrat or a white house person here add kalting health care reform that the president has put forward is that it came out on a friday, friday night -- actually on a saturday in a letter to democratic leaders in congress. the president has for days been talking about his new proposal that would create a commission to oversee medicare costs. let's have a look at the particulars of it. he called it imac, independent medicare advisory council, formed by medical professionals, proposed by the administration in reaction to another estimate that said the cost of health care would actually rise under the president's plan such as it is in congress. it is a five-member ind

. >>> so nbc's capitol hill correspondent mike viqueira has been following today's hearings closely. he joins us now live from the white house with more on this. so republicans especially were or are concerned to be asking whether sotomayor would be too empathetic or trying to set precedent instead of following law. how did she respond to that? >> of course, wendy, all of this stems from the comment she made in 2001 saying that a wise latina with her rich life experience was come to a better nclusion than another individual, caucasian, or a male would. and that is something that she's trying to live down ever since then and particularly since she was nominated and tuckly in last snch, eight hours that she appeared as republicans have gone after her time and time again after this comment. and in many different ways, she has defended herself but basically fallen on her sword, calling it a comment that fell flat as she was trying tune spire other latinas in a speech at berkeley in 2001. she says that sometimes when she approach's bench this in -- in answer to questions from the top repu

mike viqueira on c catotohill. thksks f the reporor >>> david, itss time fofo a maetetlert as weeteteett ememoyment numbers out tay. leles s lo at the big board. thdow clososed upbobout points. s&s&p well up and nasdaq up slightly. the number of americican f filg for unployment befefs fell st week to the l lostst since jajanuy. jojobls s aims drdropd d by 5250 lower ththan forecast. bobor partmentanalysts say antitipapatelayoffs in the automobile industrtr failed to materialize as thehe government exexctcted interesting. >>> and new dtatail today in the ininveigigion into michael ckson's death. thwebsite tmz is r rerting jasoson'personal doccr,r, conrad murray,, s oncece uerer ininveigigatn for a bched surgery. ththis happepeni in 2007. one of dr. mmury'y's patients died after h his heart w was punctured during a pprodure. ckckn's family has eressed ncern over d muray. was the onlnly personn with miaeaejackson when he ntnt inin c carac arrest a diedwo weekekaago >>> ststil ahead this hour, the clocock certainly tit

let's go to mike viqueira who is plugged in for what the strategy has been for the republicans and democrats this whole issue of whether the republicans thought they were walking through a political minefield based on the way lindsey graham asked those initial sets of questions of judge sotomayor, it didn't seem like that is much of a concern to him. is there much of a concern that republicans could harm themselves with these hearings in terms of not only latino voters but also women voters? >> reporter: first of all, i thought that was vintage lindsey graham. he's a guy that marches to the beat of his own drummer. he's an attorney, a lawyer in the military in the reserve. i think he's achieved a rank of colonel at this point, and it seems to me he was coming at her -- i don't want to say attacking her, but at least probing her from so many different directions in that 30 minutes that he had. i thought it was very interesting, and frankly a little bit surprising in the manner in which he approached b

mike viqueira, congressional correspondent. he joins us now live from capitol hill. think it was chris matthews who called him the coalition of the willing about seven people who are very important to this orrin hatch being one of those persons and now he's saying i'm out. >> yeah, it's all the rage up here on the senate side to be a gang of something. we've had a gang of 14 and 16 up until this morning, it was a gang of seven that gathers every day in the hart senate office building on the fifth floor in the offices of mark baucus, four democrats, three republicans trying to come up with sting that can be called by partisan, a bipartisan solution to health care. there are very large consequences to what's going on in the room. part of what we saw nancy pelosi say today she had the votes in the house of representatives to pass health care. what they're doing in the house is different. they're not talking about the house bill so much anymore. they're seeing what the senate does because some of the provisions in the house bill are so unpopular, the surcharge on the wea

. >> mike viqueira's in ohio. we know that the president wants to get this done.e white house at all responding to the senate majority leader's assertion that it may not happen before the recess? >> reporter: it happened between the time the president landed here in shaker heights, just east