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here is the point made to john boehner and 2 mitch mcconnell -- bipartisanship cannot be that i agreeo all the things that they believe in or want, and they agreed to none of the things i agree in or want. that is the price of bipartisanship. but that is sometimes the way it's presented. mitch mcconnell said something nice and the the meeting about how he supports calls on nuclear energy and clean coal technology and more drilling to increase oil production -- well, of course he likes that. that is part of the republican agenda for energy which i accept. i am willing to move off some of the preferences of my party in order to meet them halfway, but there has got to be some give from their side as well. that is true on health care, energy, financial reform -- that is what i'm hoping to get accomplished in the senate. what i agree with is that the public has soured on the process they saw over the last year. i think that actually contaminates held the view the substance of the bills. it is important for all these issues to be aired so people have confidence that we're moving forward on

i think it was smart to have lamar present the case rather than mitch mcconnell.he is a better face. are they going to have a debate or actual meeting of presenting ideas. is this going to be a discussion or talking points? you've seen the contours of how this is unfolding. the president says look, let's get something done. here is my ideas. bring me yours. the republicans who, i agree with pat, are doing a masterful job of the rhetoric, are very carefully trying to drive the process into the ground. we'll see. they may actually come to an agreement on a few ideas. we've seen we've got to scrap this and start over. that is code for actually killing health care. >> i've never heard the undercover patient thing going into doctors and see if the doct doctors give them all these extra tests. schumer said that's a terrific idea. the president said you have some good ideas. >> they won't have a bill if there's no way forward on a bill, according to the republicans at least, pat, then none of these ideas will see the light of day. >> that's the key. is there legislation?

you had eric holder sending a letter to congressional republicans, to senator mitch mcconnell today in which he basically doubles down and says "this is our policy. if you don't like it. too bad. we mirandized him quickly. we had to do it. the law says we have to do it. the fbi policy suggests we have to do it. and we are confident that we didn't miss any intelligence." i think that's a silly argument on its face. of course you missed intelligence if you only interrogated him for 50 minutes. >> bret: charles? >> in that letter holder also talks about he followed the precedent of the bush administration. it's true that with richard reid, the guy who tried to blow up a shoe he was mirandized, he was treated as a civilian, but it was a mistake. it happened three months after 9/11. and the military, the commission system hadn't been established. >> bret: he also wasn't tried. he pled guilty. >> he pled guilty. here we are eight years later where we know that's not the way to go and they repeat the error and defend it. they also had said there was a meeting -- holder said there was a meetin

and republicans led by the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell and the house minority leader john boehner. the democrats' goal, convince americans, many of whom want health care reform, that the democrats' plan works and is good. the republicans' goal, make sure any plan includes their ideas. this historic back and forth on live tv will happen in this event that's going to continue for at least, at least six hours. who knows how long it will go. it's happening over at blair house. as you know, that's the presidential guest quarters on pennsylvania avenue right across from the north lawn of the white house. both sides say they want to work together, but will they really stand on common ground? cnn is covering this summit from multiple angles. all of our correspondents, our analysts are standing by. but i want to bring in right now our white house correspondent, ed henry. ed, you're there on the scene. you're getting some new information on the timeline. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. we're hearing new information that now the new target is to get this done by the end of march, a

. >> following the meeting, senator minority leader mitch mcconnell and john boehner spoke briefly withreporters about the meeting. >> good morning, everyone. we had a good meeting with the president. what i would like to emphasize is there are some areas of potential agreement. he mentioned in the state of the union his support for a nuclear power -- for offshore drilling, for clean coal technology and for trade agreements, presumably with colombia, panama, and korea, the ones that have been languishing for a year and a half. these are areas where there could be broad bipartisan support to go for it on a collaborative basis. obviously, there will be areas of disagreement. emphasizing the things we might be able to work on together, i would mention that those four areas, all of which would be job-generator -- nuclear power, offshore drilling, clean coal technology -- and pass those languishing trade agreements that create jobs. >> we also have a long conversation about spending. the american people know that washington has been on a spending binge for over a year. i urge the president,

senate minority leader mitch mcconnell said, quote, any proponent of free speech should applaud this decision. the court ended the suppression of corporate speech. john boehner said i think the supreme court decisions today are a big win for the first amendment and a step in the right direction. let the american people decide how much money is enough. in an election year republicans are now doubling, tripling, q d quadrupling down on standing with wall street and big business against the taxpayers. so welcome to washington, senator brown. welcome to a republican party that is now actively campaigning against the jobs bill, against getting taxpayer money back from the banks, agenls taxing the aig bonuses and for seniors handing their retirement money to wall street and for big business's right to influence american elections at the expense of the american people. even foreign big businesses. democrats, this is a long, slow curveball right across the plate. swing, batter, batter, swing. yot what it needs for the next, oh, 10 years. we can't move forward until you mail it back. 2010 cen

how do you get a guy like mitch mcconnell who sits there pompously laughing at him. how do you make them pay for being against everything that tries to solve the country's problem? >> he did a nice job today when he pointed out the ways that republicans had signed on to the bipartisan commission to deal with the deficit issue, how these people suddenly, as soon as obama endoerss it, they all bailed out. he's got to call them on their hip ok accuracy. he should hold them up to the white house. and sit down and say, what do you want? >> go ahead. >> when you do that, you're going back to the incremental approach that they disavowed in the beginning on health care because they always said they wanted to do the whole thing. the other thing, john and chris, in the end, the test here is when the next big initiative comes up before congress, will obama get a bipartisan or not? >> thank you. "countdown" with keith olbermann starts right now. >> which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? the breaking news that the underwear bomber is cooperating again with aut

if they push this through on the 51-vote majority, a reconciliation, then mitch mcconnell, who is a littleit more of a southern gentleman in his approach than some of the, you know, young republican congressman. mcconnell needs to appear reasonable and i think he did, and opened discussion, which he did. and that, i think, in and of itself was probably a net positive for republicans, even though in general i didn't necessarily think this was all that great of an idea. >> bill: okay, now, what's going to happen going forward? you know, when the president issues a statement right after the summit that says, you know, i don't think it worked. i don't think we got any detente going on. that's not good. usually they try to put on a happy face and say oh, yeah, we will get it done. i don't think it's going to get done. >> well, i think he wrote the detente line before the summit began. and i think that there is no sign -- >> bill: why we do that? it looks like a defeat for him? why would he do that? if he is going to lose, come on, laura, if obama doesn't get anything passed, he can blame anybod

mitch mcconnell, said: "in the first year, americans have lost millions of jobs, the unemployment rate continues to hover near 10%, the deficit continues to soar and we're inundated with stories of waste, fraud and abuse." but the president said the recovery act had been run cleanly and transparently. he also claimed the program will save or create another one and a-half million jobs this year. in the meantime, the federal reserve estimated today that unemployment will stay between 9.5% and 9.7% through 2010. and now, two views on the stimulus package, one year out. john cochrane is professor of finance at the university of chicago booth school of business and was an early and vocal opponent of the stimulus plan. lawrence mishel is president of the economic policy institute, a labor-backed think-tank. he's principal author of "the state of working america"-- an annual study of u.s. labor markets and living standards. john cochrane, a year later, what do you see? how effective was the stimulus package? >> well, it may have been politically effective, but the idea that it was going to ra

just a few moments ago i asked the republican leader mitch mcconnell whether there was any chance for compromise given the fact the president was unlikely to heed his demands that they scapt the entire democratic bill and start over. >> unless they're willing to do that, i think it's nearly impossible to imagine a scenario under which we could reach an agreement. >> reporter: so the white house is less focused on this point at winning over the republicans and it's more focused on winning over waivering democrats who will all have to hang together, katie, if they're finally going to pass a health care bill. >> couric: all right. nancy cordes, nancy, thanks very much. still ahead on the "cbs evening news," a teacher turned hero. we'll never know how many lives he might have saved. but up next, why did the system fail to stop that pediatrician in delaware from abusing his young patients? ♪ [ woman ] nine iron, it's almost tee-time. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze, my eyes water. but with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief at liquid speed. that's the fast, p

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

but here's the point that i made to john boehner and mitch mcconnell -- bipartisanship cannot be dead i agree to all the things that they believe in or want, and they agree to none of the things i believe in and want, and that is the price of bipartisanship, right? but that is sometimes the way it gets presented. mitch mcconnell said something very nice in the meeting about how he supports our goals on nuclear energy and clean coal technology and more drilling to increase oil production. well, of course he likes that. that is part of the republican agenda for energy, which i accept. and i am willing to move all some of the preferences of my party in order to meet them halfway. but there has to be some give from their side as well. that is true on health care, on energy, on financial reform -- that is what i am hoping gets accomplished at the summit. >> do you agree the house and senate bill cannot pass anymore? >> what i agree with is that the public has soured on the process that they saw over this last year. i think that actually contaminates how they view the substance of the bills

but here's the point that i made to john boehner and mitch mcconnell -- bipartisanship cannot be deadree to all the things that they believe in or want, and they agree to none of the things i believe in and want, and that is the price of bipartisanship, right? but that is sometimes the way it gets presented. mitch mcconnell said something very nice in the meeting about how he supports our goals on nuclear energy and clean coal technology and more drilling to increase oil production. well, of course he likes that. that is part of the republican agenda for energy, which i accept. and i am willing to move all some of the preferences of my party in order to meet them halfway. but there has to be some give from their side as well. that is true on health care, on energy, on financial reform -- that is what i am hoping gets accomplished at the summit. >> do you agree the house and senate bill cannot pass anymore? >> what i agree with is that the public has soured on the process that they saw over this last year. i think that actually contaminates how they view the substance of the bills. i t

. >> including mitch mcconnell.lip can only be politics. >> look, there is a statute of limitations on laying it all at the feet of your predecessor. it's about one year. time is up. at this point it's all whining. >> bret: last word, nina. >> he didn't make tough choices. i agree, the republicans have not stepped up to the plate. he didn't make the kind of tough choices in this budget that would encourage republicans to take tough choices. by the way, that prescription drug benefit while some call it a budget buster it's incredibly popular with people. >> bret: is the plan to try 9/11 suspects in new york city officially dead? the panelists render their the panelists render their verdicts next.6Ñw?eeeee >> if congress makes a decision that they are going to try to block the opening of a new facility, it potentially constrains what our administration can do. and so this is something that we have got to work through, both in congress but also with public opinions so that people understand that ultimately thi

but here's the point that i made to john boehner and mitch mcconnell.n can't be -- bipartisanship can't be that i agree to all of the things that they believe in or want, and they agree to none of the things i believe in and want and that's the price of bipartisanship. right? but that's sometimes the way it gets presented. mitch mcconnell said something very nice in the meeting of how he supports our goals on nuclear energy and clean coal technology and more drilling to increase oil production. well, of course he likes that. that's part of the republican agenda for energy. which i accept. and i'm willing to move off some of the preferences of my party in order to meet them halfway. but there's got to be some give from their side as well. that's true on health care. that's true on energy. that's true on financial reform. that's what i'm hoping gets accomplished at the summit. >> you say the bills can't pass -- >> what i agree with is the public has soured on the process that they saw over last year. i think that actually contaminates how they view the su

on "state of the union" mitch mcconnell as well as nancy pelosi.tarts at noon eastern. 90.1 f.m. here in washington, d.c. nationwide an xm satellite radio 132. on the web at c-spanradio.org, and you can follow us on twitter. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are pleased to welcome back a familiar face to this slow and the author of "the chrystal ball" larry sabato. guest: there are two ways to look at the trends. one is based on sta activity cal -- statistical analysis. that suggests the republicans will pick up 30 house seats. we think it is between 27 and 37. let's remember it is february 28. you and i have been around a long time and loads of things were going to happen between now and november that will lift that number or lower that number. host: chuck todd on his morning daily rundown said we have already seen massachusetts flip to republican and now delaware and illinois have the potential of becoming republican seats, barack obama and joe biden's respective seats. guest: yes, those are two perspective seats. there are several othe

-- in the minority leader mitch mcconnell. part of the deal president obama struck with democratic leadership to get the united states debt limit, the statutory debt limit raised, he said if the commissionu! does not get çthroughç congress he will dot by executive order and that is what he is going to do. ñru!okhe will sign an executiver creating an 18-member panel to look at the deficit and the debt and come back of the end of the year with recommendations. it will be chaired by republican former senator alan simpson from wyoming and a democrat, erskin boweles, who was the white house chief of staff and the clinton years when the last balanced budget deal was struck with the republicans. host: you heard our questions from audience. i want to take a few calls from our viewers and talk about more about the construct of the commission and what the impact it will have. let us take our first call on the question of is america and the need of a pep talk, and manhattan is on the line. mack, a democrat. caller: thank you for c-span

as we can see kyle simmons has become part of mitch mcconnell. my dealings with kyle simmons are meetings that are held in my office or in senator mcconnell's office, and if there were a way to describe my dealings with kyle simmons, it would be to go to the dictionary and go to -- under the h's and go to "humility," and there would be kyle simmons. he is just as mitch mcconnell described him. he's a man who has loads of humility. he doesn't talk very often, but whenever he talks, we listen. so i wish you the very best, kyle, in the things you do, and i recognize that your boss, mitch mcconnell, was speaking for the entire senate in our relationships with our staff. but, of course, even though there are many relationships with our staff, i think the relationship between senator mcconnell and kyle simmons, as we can see, is very unique. best of luck to you, kyle. mr. president, following the remarks of senator mcconnell and me, we'll proceed to a period of monk business, senators -- morning business, senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes ea

all of which proves that mitch mcconnell [unintelligible] there is no education in the second kick ofthe world has changed. 16 months ago, new york city was the financial capital of the world. it is not the financial capital of the u.s., this town is. we have something like state capitalism in which capital credit, the lifeblood of the economy, is increasingly treated as a public utility to be priced and allocated by political forces. this makes capital a slush fund and inevitably, it funds crony capitalism. much of this, we must face, began under a republican administration. with detroit, where we pioneered, it was a republican administration that subsidized failure. i do not know why the bush administration felt so strongly about this. they were haunted by the memories of the urban unrest and civil disorders that accompanied the bankruptcy of studebaker. today, we have an administration that can envision a world without the internal combustion engine but not a world without the chrysler corporation. what is wrong with this picture? ronald reagan said "the rule in washington is, if i

mitch mcconnell, who i had the pleasure of sharing a sunday show with, had supported this two months it came time to vote on it. >> i guess my larger question is, aren't these the tough decisions that the president and members of congress were elected to make? >> absolutely. but, jake, we're -- one party is not going to solve these -- not going to solve all these problems. one party is not going to make -- >> why not? why is one party not capable -- >> because of the -- >> -- when one party controls the house, senate and the white house? >> no, no, no, no, no -- welcome to washington. one party is not going to get -- one party is not going to be able to solve all these. the american people want both parties to work together to solve these. we can make those tough decisions if people are willing to work together to do that. >> was that your message in october? >> which one? >> the one you just said to jake. >> well, it was kind of long. what was -- >> no, but both parties are here -- wouldn't you be making the case that you'd want democrats to get elected? >> i'm going to vote for a d

do the republicans, mitch mcconnell and the rest of you all sit and say if you're not going to do itr do you start negotiating in public point by point on some of the things where there perhaps could be consensus. >> first of all, you can't do that in six hours. what that isis a photo shoot that really isn't going to do anything about health care other than talk about it. i think you'll find a lot of accusations going back and forth at that particular meeting. look, we can do health care in this country. their goal is to have the federal government control health care. they want to push us towards a singer payer system, which by any definition is socialized medicine. our goal would be to have the 50-r state laboratories do health care with the help of the federal government and do it in a way that we could have 50 state laboratories, look at and pick and choose among the bess programs and do it with each state's demographics. utah is not new york, massachusetts and utah both have exchanges, health exchanges but they are very different was they have different demographics. if we have

listen to mitch mcconnell and harry reid after that. >> we're happy to go down there.'m always pleased to see him. i'm sure we'll have a six hours, but it seems like he's already posted on the internet what he would like to see the majority jam through. >> nothing is off the table. we'll be happy to take a look at that, but realistically, they should stop crying about reconciliation as if it's never been done before. it's done almost every congress. and they're the ones that used it more than anyone else. >> jessica, reid said reconciliation has been used 21 times since 1981. just the fact that he was armed with those statistics and a defense shows how seriously they are considering using this parliamentary tactic, which would just need 51 votes to pass health care. one interesting thing i heard from democratic sources i'm sure you'll find interesting is one of the main reasons the president came out with his plan yesterday is actually to bridge the democratic divide ahead of this summit in the hopes of once they do that using this tactic to get a health care bill to h

here is what a senior aide to mitch mcconnell said today.kaine is the chairman of the democratic national committee and former governor of virginia. governor, good to see you. thanks for joining us. >> you bet, norah. great to be back. >> more than 50 million americans watch the president, of course, in his state of the union where he said and promised jobs are priority number one. so the senate, of course, is taking this up. where are the specifics? we don't know how much this is going to cost and we don't know how many jobs this will save or create. what's the deal? >> norah, the president laid it out pretty clearly wednesday night. the focus is small business success. they are the engine of job growth in this country. primary strategies are first elimination of capital gains for small and startup businesses to encourage innovation, mom and pop startups, the basis for the business sector and second tax credits for the hiring of new employees. those are the two key pieces of it. he made that plain wednesday night. this is good policy. it's

and the republican leader mitch mcconnell came out and said he was discouraged and he's renewing the call they start all over again. so having said that, karen tumulty, what do you make of this day? >> well, i think that it was pretty clear that no minds were changed, no votes were changed, and there was a lot of discussion about process, which i think probably most americans could care less about. but what the two sides did, i thought, a really good job at was, as the president kept saying over and over again, spelling out their philosophical differences. the democrats have one approach for improving the health care system that involves a big role of government in setting... in setting some standards as to who gets covered, what people's responsibilities should be, what health insurance should look like. the republicans' idea is that the west way to improve the system is to essentially let people go out and use the forces of competition to shop for themselves, find out for themselves what is the best kind of health care for themselves. >> woodruff: but ceci connolly, did we learn an

but i think they felt they had no choice, because mitch mcconnell and john boehner just not going to cut any deals. so he's got to put the spotlight on them. >> he's the hot shooter. i use the basketball analogy. 's but he can't shoot all the baskets. he needs some people around him. he's got to sharpen up his cabinet. we had the o & b director on, he's not a politician. napolitano doesn't seem like much of a politician on issues she's responsible for. he needs sharp team members. and i don't know who they are. geithner's not a pal. biden is. he needs people out there shooting with him and working with him and i don't see it. >> i don't think he needs a commander in chief on the economy. there has to be somebody like norman schwarzkopf every day on tv. >> a politician. >> a politician, with some incentive about politics and credibility with wall street and main street. howard's right, this is the way he would be acting if he were simply trying to win the midterms. i still don't understand how this helps his legislative agenda this year. he's right on the merits. the republicans outra

yet mitch mcconnell trashes the american intelligence community and the justice department.ays only the gop can protect you from the horror of terror. >> he was given a 50-minute interrogation. probably larry king has interrogated people longer and better than that. >> political points ahead of intel. hello. the christmas bomber now providing leads about the yemeni cleric tied to detroit, the fort hood shooter, and even 9/11. and oh, by the way the president can kill you while you're out of the country if you're working with the terrorists. huh? >> if that direct action, we think that direct action will involve killing an american, we

out craig baker, union friendly, worker friendly nominee and he's going to be voted upon and mitch mcconnell in the chamber of commerce said scott come on down and down he came. i can tell you this -- >> lehrer: are there other ramifications. >> the ramifications i think are apparent already. there's panic in the democratic rank. first of all they lost massachusetts, and that just makes everybody vulnerable. everybody who is up facing re-election. secondly the panic is there's a loss of confidence in the whitehouse political operation but they didn't see it coming. they in no way anticipated what was coming didn't act upon it. so there's an anxiety. are we all in trouble of vulnerability. i think that's the principal emotion that's dominated the democratic side. >> lehrer: david, some say this is a good thing because it's going to cause everybody on both sides to kind of get together because if they don't get together, there isn't going to be any governing. >> yes, right. well some people say it's a good thing and some people are spinning you, it's not a good thing. some people say some demo

tension breaking out in the open among the democratic coalition and of course that's exactly what mitch mcconnell's plan is. that's exactly what he's been trying to do and so far it's worked. and i don't see any evidence in scott brown of a change in atmosphere and i also listen to paul kirk give his farewell address. paul kirk, i think, is a very decent guy. yes a partisan democrat, but he was almost beseeching the institution to try to come together in a spirit of cooperation. when he spoke, there wasn't a single republican on the floor to listen to him. that said it all. >> well, mr. mcconnell was out jumping a shark which we'll get to in a moment. howard fineman of msnbc and "newsweek", many thanks. >> thank you, keith. >>> if mr. brown, massachusetts, has not yet heard from wall street he should keep his phone on. new york state attorney general andrew cuomo today filing civil fraud charges against bank of america, its former ceo ken lewis, and other executives saying the bank purposely misled investors about more than $15 billion in losses at merrill lynch not to mention huge bonuses in order

in a statement, senate gop leader mitch mcconnell said: "after trillions in new and proposed spending, americans know our problem is not that we tax too little, but that washington spends too much. that should be the focus of this commission." mr. obama had wanted congress to form a commission with the power to force lawmakers to vote on deficit cuts after the november elections. that idea failed in the senate last month. i sat down with the two chairs of the president's new commission in the eisenhower executive office building this afternoon.Ñg and/called erskine and he said, you know, what we need to do is push the balfour ward and do it for our grandchildren. that's what we're here for. sounds corny, i know, but that's the way it is. >> woodruff: erskine bowles, help people understand how overwhelming is the job you've been asked to do? >> it's staggering. we have a deficit-to-g.d.p. ratio today of 10.6%. we got $1.6 trillion in new debt coming on to the country. judy, i'm a university of north carolina now and i know if we don't get our people educated, we're going to be a second

and the top senate republican, mitch mcconnell, said the two sides share an interest in expanding nuclear power and finishing trade deals. the president also had a warning for iran over its nuclear program. he said the u.s. is working on a "significant regime" of new sanctions in the u.n. security council. he gave no timetable for action. iran announced today it's begun enriching uranium to a higher level. that could be another step toward developing nuclear weapons, a goal iran denies having. wall street rallied sharply today on hopes of an aid plan for greece, which is heavily in debt. the dow jones industrial average gained 150 points to close at 10,058. the nasdaq rose more than 24 points to close near 2151. a huge new snowstorm blew across the u.s. midwest today, and took aim for the already snowbound mid-atlantic region. roads from minneapolis to chicago to indianapolis were slick with up to a foot of new snow. hundreds of flights were canceled in chicago, and washington braced for up to 20 new inches, on top of last weekend's blizzard. in southern california, another rainstorm rais

he wrote to senate republican leader mitch mcconnell, saying: "no agency has since advised the department of justice that an alternative course of action should have been pursued." holder's statement followed growing republican criticism. over the weekend, maine senator susan collins charged the obama team has "a blind spot" when it comes to fighting terrorism. and south carolina senator lindsay graham followed up yesterday. >> it makes no sense to capture someone fresh off the battlefield and within 50 minutes, read them their miranda rights and lose all the intelligence they possess. >> reporter: but at a senate hearing that same day, f.b.i. director robert mueller insisted no intelligence was lost. >> in the initial interview, we had to determine whether there were other bombs on the plane, whether there were other planes that had similar attacks contemplated, wanted to understand who the bomb maker was, who had directed him. all of that came in the first series of questions. >> reporter: and today, white house officials rejected complaints that they should not have let it be known tha

one final note, after the supreme court handed down its decision two weeks ago, mitch mcconnell of kentuckyhe leader of senate republicans, praised it from the senate floor. he dismissed the notion that the decision might allow a flood of foreign money to influence our elections. now we learn from talkingpointsmemo.com that senator mcconnell has received substantial funds from a subsidiary of a big foreign defense contractor that's currently being investigated by the justice department for bribery. senator mcconnell has been quite good to that subsidiary; this year alone he's requested $17 million in earmarks for its louisville facility. yes, the sun, and the dollar signs, shine bright in senator mcconnell's old kentucky home. let's face it, two political parties; equal opportunity hypocrites. that's it for the journal. go to our website at pbs.org and click on bill moyers journal. you can read dr. margaret flowers' letter. you'll also learn how your state's laws will be affected by the recent supreme court decision. we'll also link you to websites where the debate rages on. that's all at p

. >> mitch mcconnell said, i don't think he was listening. mitch mcconnell says i don't think we got anything accomplished but they agreed. some may agree to disagree. >> to what's going on with it, we agreed this morning that caroline shively should do our report and she should be in washington and we agreed she should be wearing that pink outfit. good morning to you. >> good morning to you, steve. you know, we didn't expect any deals to come from this summit yesterday and we did not get any. but we did get a preview of what's next. president obama didn't say it flat out but he seemed to lay the groundwork for going ahead with the health care vote with or without any republicans the president says he wants the g.o.p.ers to do soul searching on agreements and he would contemplate their side as well. they're so far apart, that leaves reconciliation as a possibility. the dems would need 51 votes, not 60 in a principle designed mainly for budget measures. here's one idea on that. >> we'll have to renounce jaming it through in a partisan way. if

[laughter] this is an example of where i am going to reach out to mitch mcconnell, and i know harry haswell. the if the american -- if the at the -- if the government is going to work for the american people, i cannot have the administrator for gsa, which runs every federal facility, all federal buildings all across the country -- here we are, we're trying to save billions of dollars, cut waste -- claire mccaskill has been all on top of how we can audit our spending and we could save billions of dollars in ending old leases that do not work or renegotiating them or consolidating buildings and efficiencies. but i do not have a gsa administrator even though i nominated someone who was well qualified several months ago. nobody can tell me that there's anything particularly wrong with her. they are blocking her because of some unrelated matter. i do not know, you guys may know better than i did. that has to end. it has to win. [applause] -- it has to end. let's have a fight about real stuff. don't hold this woman hostage. if you have an objection about my health care policies, then let's de

i hope despite the fact it got voted down in the senate that both republican leader mitch mcconnell and why we are restoring pay as you go. congress cannot spend a dime without cutting a done elsewhere. this will help lead to the budget surpluses of the 1990's and is one of the most important steps we can take to restore fiscal discipline in washington. you can read more about the budget and budget.gov. very easy to remember. we simply cannot continue to spend as if deficits do not have consequences. as if waste does not matter. as if the hard earned tax dollars can be treated like monopoly money. in order to meet this challenge, i welcome any idea from democrats or republicans. a one-out walk and, what i reject is the same old grandstanding when the cameras are on. it is time to hold washington to the same standards businesses and families hold themselves. it is time to spend what we must and live within our means once again. thanks very much. >> president obama presenting his budget proposal for fiscal year 2011. here's a look at the budget as it physically arrived on capitol hill thi

mitch mcconnell said, "i am looking forward to working with the democrat party."ork with the democrats. it went all the way up to the hype. guest: there is an awful lot in your statements regarding by partisanship. i watched the hill for seven years. everyone knows individually when a piece of legislation is being worked by both parties together and win the leadership of one party is doing itself. if you compare how medicare was processed the they legislate to in 1965. it had months of hearings. they had a conference open to 153 issues. it was all regular order. there are some complaint even then that certain elements of the hearings moved quickly by the democrats. to the personnel, 32 compare that now, -- to compare that now, the word did in the bill. sometimes the cutout the committee. çç forget the opposition çparty, they are not çpart of the process of çdrafting the legislation. one çóadvantage of going througç the committees is they çtend t represent çthe people çwho el them. guest: çthe health xdcare refo party went through and çthroug the house an

if we can't close that gap, i suspect mitch mcconnell, harry reid, nancy pelosi and john boehner areing to have a lot of arguments about procedures in congress about moving forward. i will tell you this, that when i talk to the parents of children who don't have health care because they have diabetes, heart disease. when i talk to small businesses that are laying people off because they just got their insurance premium, they don't want us to wait. they can't afford another five decades. and the truth of the matter is that politically speaking there may not be any reason for republicans to want to do anything. we can debate what our various constituencies think. i don't need a poll to think republican voters are opposed to this bill and might be opposed to the kind of compromise we could craft. it would be very hard for you politically to do this. but i thought it was worthwhile for us to make this effort. we've got a lot of other things to do. i don't think, tom, we're going to have another one of these, because people don't have, you know, seven, eight hours a day to work some of th