nelson has a cut near the right eye. right now they'll head back to the locker room it looks like to get it straightened out. kansas comes up with it. xavier henry. loses it. morgan with the steal. >> marques: going to the basket with his trademark long jump shot. >> steve: morgan over the back of aldrich. no foul called. he knocks it out of bounds. dragovic can come back in. >> marques: nice defense on the inside. nelson on the bench. here he comes. >> steve: in on dragovic. really a mismatch. >> marques: nikola dragovic, you got to battle harder than that. you get a foul. get your body into the offensive player to keep him from getting to the basket that easily. where is that defense? nonexistent for ucla on that possession. >> steve: they hit the end line. it will be bruin basketball. >> marques: he wants to get into this game oh, so badly. got the trainer up high, low, to the left, to the right. >> steve: i like the glasses. >> marques: oh, yeah. whatever it takes. >> steve: 57-46, kansas with the lead, the number on

nelson. no. rebounding lee.hrows it off and out of bounds, bruin basketball. >> marques: it wasn't particularly pleasing to look at but got the job done getting the ball inside to reeves nelson. great position on the inside. >> steve: morris at first. >> marques: they've got to stay aggressive and especially, not so much a height but strength advantage on the inside. morris in particular. >> steve: malcolm lee with the fade, missing. xavier henry for three. >> marques: xavier henry the leading scorer on this team at 17 points a game. >> steve: one thing i noticed is the fact that the kansas stars are stronger, more physical than the ucla guards. >> marques: they're stronger than a lot of nba guards. sherron collins, xavier henry, these guys are as much as they come. >> steve: on saturday a double header with the wooden classic, pac-10 power number 12 washington against number 16 georgetown. then ucla looks to get back ontrack as they battle mississippi state. the action starts at 2:00 eastern 11:00 pacific. is t

abortions while the nelson-hatch-casey package is unprecedented. so i would just like to ask the distinguished senator from utah what exactly did the hatch -- did the hyde language say? let's clarify what hyde was so we can then determine if your amendment is the same. mr. hatch: thank you so much. the current hyde language contained in fiscal year 2009 labor-h.h.s. appropriations act says the following: section 507-a. none of the funds appropriated in this act and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this act shall be expended for any abortion. b, none of the funds appropriated in this act and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this act shall be expended for health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion. mrs. hutchison: so that is federal funds prohibited from being used in abortions for that particular pweufplt what about programs like chip? that was created in the balanced budget act, and in 2009 was reauthorized by congress and signed by the president earlier th

nelson: mr.nt, i rise to discuss the bipartisan amendment which i have proposed with senators hatch and the presiding officer and others. as my good friend and colleague from utah has so eloquently explained, our amendment mirrors the language offered by representative stupak that was accepted into the house health care bill. our view is that it should become part of the senate health care bill we're debating as well. it's a fact that the issue of abortion stirs very strong emotions involving strongly held principles all across america from those who support the procedure and those who do not. and we're hearing that passion at times here on the senate floor. but we're not here to debate for or against abortion. this is a debate about taxpayer money. it's a debate about whether it is appropriate for public funds to, for the first time in more than three decades, cover elective abortions. in my opinion, most americans and most of the people in my state would say "no." and as it is currently written

i want to say this about ben nelson.t want to vote for them, and believed that reid swallowed it to have a chance to pass this. and the second point, i am a democrat, life long from illinois, and i will be contacting dick derby, it's time that the democrats reorganize çand have some part discipline. the chairmans are responsible for the parties and what they are bringing forward. and also if you are inna cause na -- caucus and i understand that position, but a member shouldn't in an isolated incident put themsz -- themselves in a position to stop what we are doing as a party. if you choose not to want that, don't block things for a vote. i will contact him, we have to exercise the discipline with these people. guest: well, your caller from chicago bring up an interesting point. there is a significant debate of how to deal with this situation when you have 60 people and one person can stop it. in addition to nelson, earlier in this process we saw senator lieberman, an independent of the democratic caucus, and he had issu

at the free-throw line reeves nelson, a bundle of energy. i think he has a terrific future because he brings the attack. he bring he brings the high energy and emotion that ben howland likes so much. >> marcus: he's not going to be 20 points, 9, 10, 11 rebounds, can average 7 or 8 rebounds easily but-for-this team to be successful they have to get some offense generated through some of these recruits, smith, josh lamb jarvis. >> steve: well, can you imagine what they might have next year with smith at the post and nelson at a power forward and honeycutt off on a wing with malcolm lee and perhaps a point guard? >> marcus: they could be pretty good as soon as next year, but ben howland will have a rough go this year with the club he has. clear and green bottles let in light, which can rn traditionally brewed beer skunky. brown bottles protect better. we use higher six packs protect it from the light. we put so much care into brewing the beer that we want to protect it. grill: holy moly!!! what just hap...whoa! grill: i mean...wow! hey! that lo

depth perception thrown off, but just a really bright future for reeves nelson. plays so hard and most effective interior offensive player for ucla jarvis. >> steve: down low and it is varnado scoring his first basket and mississippi state goes in front by six. the bulldogs coming off an impressive win against depaul. they crushed them, 76-:45. malcolm lee hits the jumper and had to wait a second to let the defense slifd by and drops his first field goal. >> marcus: they need malcolm lee, again, just to be more aggressive on the oefnt offensive end and attack the basket and go towards the basket north and south as opposed to being an east-west pal player to use football parlance jarvis. >> steve: i was just going to ask you is he running up the middle or the sweep? >> marcus: darren collison could get away with it last year because of his quickness. malcolm lee has more range at 6'3", long, but when he gets going and a head of steam going to the basket, he's got some nice abilities to finish inside jarvis. >> steve: dragovic can hit the three and misses. dragovic

and the nelson amendment is necessary -- is a necessary addition to the bill in order to protect our current policy and the unborn. i understand that not everyone in this country agrees with my position on abortion. and, again, i know that this issue deeply divides americans on ethical, moral, and religious grounds. while i have said that i don't agree with abortion and believe roe v. wade should be overturned, the nelson amendment -- and this is really important -- does not prevent anyone from seeking an abortion, it does not overturn roe v. wade and it does not place any new restrictions on access to

the nelson-hatch-casey amendment. in general, no funds authorized or appropriated by this actor and amendments made by this act may be used to pay for any abortion or to cover any part of any health care plan that includes coverage of abortion. >> so based on what you've said, this is not new federal abortion policy. the hyde amendment currently applies to the plans discussed, including the plans that members of congress have antiabortion protection for all of the federal health programs all say exactly the same thing. and that we should -- the amendments that we are going to vote on, that is the nelson-hatch-casey amendment would preserve the three decade long precedent and that's what your amendment does. and that we must pass it if we are going to guarantee that the bill that is on the floor is properly amended so that it is the same as our 30 years of abortion federal policy in this country. >> the reason it's so critical that we pass the nelson-hatch-casey amendment is that it is the only way to guarantee that a

let's go to nelson, which is really a senate version of stupak. i reject the ben nelson amendment. i believe it is unnecessary. i believe it is unneeded. and i believe that it's uncalled for. it goes further than hyde because it prohibits the public option from covering abortion. it prohibits individuals from receiving federal insurance subsidies from purchasing a plan that covers abortion. and even if you use your own money, you can't receive -- you cannot be used to pay for an abortion. is my time expired? i'm sorry, i thought i heard a knock. the presiding officer: no, your time has not expired. ms. mikulski: it also allows women to purchase an abortion rider. oh, boy, is this supposed to be big deal. is this supposed to be the kind of thing that's supposed to make us happy? what an insulting, humiliating thing to say: if you want an abortion, go buy a rider. i think it demonizes women. why don't you just go into the workplace and paint a scarlet letter on your head? hawthorne still lives in the nelson amendment. let's get an "a." let's paint the "a" word on your forehead. can y

let's vote on the stupak-nelson language on abortion. we'll defeat it. let's vote on taking the public option out. give everybody a chance to bring these forward. vote on them. then vote for cloture, don't kill a procedural vote. we'll pass a bill that's strong and good with the strong public option if we get a chance to do it. i'm confident senator nelson and landrieu and lieberman will allow us. >> senator sherrod brown, democrat of ohio. thanks for coming on tonight. >>> next, former governor howard dean joins us with his take on the state of health care negotiations. >>> later, the state of tiger woods not so great after this week. now, a new story surfaces about alleged hush money to one of his ladies. tubs? when we want. when we're in the mood. it's our choice. announcer: today, guys with erectile dysfunction can be ready with another dosing option from cialis. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven low-dose tablet you take every day, so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. so relax and take your time. tell your doctor about your medi

the nelson-hatch amendment would go beyond that.it would restrict a woman's ability to use her own funds for coverage to pay for abortions. it blocks a woman from using their personal funds to purchase insurance plans with abortion coverage. if enacted for the first time in federal law, this amendment would restrict what individual private dollars can pay for in the private insurance marketplace. i might also point out that when you look at those who are supporting this amendment, you can't help but have some concern that this amendment is being offered as a way to derail and defeat the health care reform bill, because most of the people who are going to be supporting that amendment will vote in opposition to the bill. it's quite clear that the senate health reform bill already includes the language banning the federal funds for abortion services, so the supporters of this bill are not satisfied with the current funding ban. they're trying to use this to move the equation further in an effort to defeat the bill. i also would point o

senator nelson and senator bob casey.hink possibly byron dorgan, maybe kent con regard, but -- conrad, but i'm not sure about them. >> how about republicans? >> most of them. the only two i think won't will olympia snowe and susan collins. they like the language as it is. >> what are the possible implications of this amendment passes, and then i'll ask the same question about it failing. >> sure. if it passes, it's likelier that democrats will have senator nelson's vote on the bill. if i can just go ahead and answer your other question, if it does not pass, senator nelson will not support the bill unless more restrictive abortion language is added to it. >> are you getting any sense of the mood of senator as they continue working on this bill? >> yeah. we've been staking out these meetings they have been having almost every night, and when the more liberal senators come out of those meetings, they always seem to be in a good mood. senator chuck schumer of new york says he thinks things are moving along well, but then we t

nelson of nebraska,aye. mr. nelson of florida,aye. mr. pryor,aye. mr. reed of rhode island,aye. mr.reid of nevada, [laughter] mr. reid of nevada,aye. [laughter] mr rich, no. mr. roberts,no. mr. rockefeller,aye. mr. sanders, mr. schumer,aye. mr. sessions, mrs. shaheen, aye. mr. shelby, ms. snowe,no. mr. spector,aye. mr stabinow, aye. mr. tester,aye. mr thune, no. mr udall of colorado,aye. mr. udall of new mexico,aye. mr.vitter, no. mr.voinivich, no. mr. warner,aye. mr. webb,aye. mr. white house,aye. mr. wicker,no. mr. whiden, aye. mr. bennett of utah, no. this is a hutchinson,no. mr. cochran,no. mr. bennett of colorado,aye. [no audio] mr. sessions,no. [no audio] [no audio] [no audio] [applause] mr. sanders -- [laughter] >>yes? >> mr. sanders, aye. mr. shelby -- no. [no audio] [no audio] >> and the other senators wishing to go toward change their vote? the amendment is passed. [no audio] >> i had a restless night worrying about bipartisanship and i think i found a way tested. nowhere in history have we found a way to make health care more affordable than today. this is a victory for t

. >> ben nelson was the last democrat to agree to vote for the health-care bill. after successfully negotiating provisions to prevent the use of federal funds to pay for abortion. he spoke on the senate floor after the bout. senate will come to order. the senator from nebraska. mr. nelson: madam president, during the consideration of the health care bill, one of my primary concerns has been ensuring that the long-standing hyde amendment would be incorporated into the bill. i have strongly-held views on the subject and i fought hard to prevent the tax dollars from being used to subsidize abortions. i was pleased that the house included strong abortion provisions in its health care bill in the form of the stupak amendment. i modified this language to meet the senate bill and offered the nelson-hatch-casey amendment to prohibit federal funding of abortion. and i was disappointed to see that that amendment was tabled by a vote of 54-45. i knew then that the underlying bill did not adequately prohibit federal funding of abortion and consequently i would not be able to

reed finally got that 60th vote from nebraska's ben nelson. nelson made his support known saturday morning. >> while each of my colleagues may differ on how to fix the system , i know of no members who are suggesting that the current system is satisfactory. i know of no member who doesn't think that we need to change our health care system. where we differ-- and i say so with great respect to all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle-- is in the way we fix our health care system. >> reporter: to get nelson on board, reed had to include stricter language on abortion coverage in his final amendments. as a result, the bill allows states to opt out of plans that cover abortion in the new insurance exchanges and those who enroll in plans that cover the procedure would have to pay for it separately. nelson also won a commitment from the federal government to cover the entire cost of nebraska's medicare expansion under the bill in perpetuity. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell blasted the deal- making at a sunday afternoon news conference.

ben nelson, blanch lincoln. are they okay now because of this, quote, deal? >> that's what we're all waiting to see. it is funny to sort of watch the spotlight move from one whoever the 60th vote is at that moment to the next. it was olympia snow. then it was ben nelson for a long time. blanch lincoln has been in that spotlight. she sort of takes herself out of it. she's not as high profile as some of the others. what we're looking for is blanch lincoln from arkansas, ben nelson from nebraska still two of the big names that everybody is waiting to see. the one who has popped up recently has been jim web from virginia simply because he's been vote ing with the republicans on a lot of these amendments. there's some concern that maybe he's not as strong as we thought he could be. he could be the 60th vote. >> lehrer: when the president said, as we had in a clip after the meeting with the democrats, he said there are still differences. what's he talking about? >> well, the biggest difference i think by far has to do with abortion language and how tough the restri

nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i have been listening on c-span 2 in addition to having the privilege of being over here on the floor, to this debate that's been going on. the debate that's been going on ever since the summer when we in the committee were fashioning this legislation. and i must say that to hear one side of this debate, i wouldn't recognize all of those hearings that we had last summer and all the markup that we did in the finance committee last september, because what has been presented to the senate and what has been presented to the public through press conferences by the opposition to this bill in most cases just simply is not correct. i want to give a couple of examples here this evening. in attacking this and saying what a dastardly thing that this is going to do for the country and how this is going to increase cost and raise taxes, each one of these things can be refuted. but it is a typical tactic that when you want to attack something and tear it down, you go after a specific ite

, a three quarter nelson, a double nelson, and more. one is exempting many floridians. the three quarter notes and is that senator nelson has excluded the position on hospital construction in his state by changing the date that left 80 other investors throughout the country hanging out to dry in terms of billions of dollars of investment that will never come to fruition. but he protected the ones in his state. he also has written a permanent, into infinity, funding for the federal taxpayer, all of us were not in nebraska, for any impasse of medicaid that this bill would bring forward. how can that be the america that we're from? that we are going to take one group and treat you different than everybody else? we have 90,000 oklahomans on medicare advantage. we have thousands on medicaid. this will be a big cost for the state of oklahoma why is it that nebraska is more nebraska than oklahoma or nebraska or kentucky? it is not. we are dividing up the country on the basis of parochial preferences rather than doing the right thing for the co

what senator nelson did.lped the state of nebraska on their medicaid problem, but it sure hasn't helped the doctors and hospitals with the medicare cuts in this bill. so at the end of the day i hope that the american people realize this game is not over. this is a long way from being done. in you want to change what washington is doing, speak up. let people know in these states that have been identified that you don't want to do that to your fellow citizens. that the medicare cuts are going to affect people in nebraska. the tax increases are going to affect people in nebraska. and this abortion language, you can look at it all you would like and we know you will, but the u.s. conference of catholic bishops understands the difference between the stupak language and this language. and they have decided to oppose the bill because of what senator nelson negotiated. now, that says to me all i need to know about the pro-life issue is when the conference of catholic bishops say they will oppose the language and oppo

nebraskas and a democrat ben nelson was the last senator to vote yes on the bill. he spoke following the vote. remarks that the majority leader made about all of the people that work at the capitol during the difficult an intense time. we thank you very much for your outstanding service. it's early and i'll be brief. the most obvious problem with the bill before us is it doesn't do what it was supposed to do. the one test for any bill was whether it would lower costs. this bill fails that test. it's also clear that even many of the people on this side who are going to support this bill don't like it. otherwise, the democratic leaders wouldn't have had such a tough time rounding up the votes. otherwise, democratic leaders would not have had to have votes in the middle of the night or at crack of dawn or over the weekend or even during a blizzard. otherwise, they wouldn't be rushing it through congress on christmas eve. the first time this body has had a vote on the day before christmas in more than a century. this debate was supposed to produce a bill that reformed

trying to work on some kind of a compromise that could pass muster and, yes, it is upsetting that ben nelson can get the deal he can get for the state of nebraska. but the problem is, when you don't have a single republican vote wants to step up to vote, and this will require 60 votes to pass, what you going to do? guest: here is " the new york

it's my understanding that senator ben nelson is ready, has an amendment. i think we've given it to your staff. this may be one where it's

i think you got a half nelson, a three quarter nelson, a full nelson and then the double triple nelson. the half nelson is exempting 1 million floridians from any cuts in medicare advantage. the three quarter nelson is that senator nelson has excluded the position on hospitals under construction in his state by changing the date but left 80 other investors throughout the country hanging out to dry in terms of billions of dollars of investment that will never come to fruition. but he protected the ones in his state. he also, as noted by the leader, wrote a permanent into infinity funding for the federal taxpayer -- that's all of us that aren't in nebraska -- for any new costs in medicaid that this bill would bring forward. how can that be the america that we're from? we're going to take one group and because you want to get a vote for a bill, we're going to totally treat you different than everybody else. now, we have 90,000 oklahomaens on medicare advantage. we have hundreds of thousands of oklahomaens on medicaid. this bill's going to be a big cost for the state of oklahoma. why is it

and other democrats work to parptionly mitigate senator nelson from florida and other democrats worked to partially mitigate the impact of the bill's medicare advantage funding cuts. this effort, while taking only very small steps, clearly demonstrated that a number of our democratic colleagues recognized the value offered by medicare advantage plans and the danger of enacting the deep cuts proposed by the pending bill. unfortunately, only a limited number of states would benefit from the nelson amendment, so most medicare advantage beneficiaries are not protected from the cut. bethey recognized how important -- but they recognized how important these programs are -- or this program s i also recall that six years ago when enacted the medicare modernization act, we intentionally provided new funding to stablize the medicare health plan program. this was one of the few issues on which there was strong bipartisan agreement during the 2003 medicare debate. i was here. i was on the conference committee. i have helped to bring about that -- i helped to bring about that medicare modernization

then nelson -- ben nelson has said it would not vote to end debate in the senate without language like this. we will see what happens if it does fail. the debate started last night and i expect some sort of vote next week. host: 51 not vote for passage without the abortion language included -- if he would not vote for passage without the abortion language included, harry reid would be bought -- one both shy. guest: some speculation as majority leader will put it in a catch all amendment with a bunch of stuff, legislative proposals, that will be voted on at the end. i have some sources telling me that what the majority leader will do is put compromise's language in the and then it -- possibly, not as strong as stupak but stronger than what is on the books now and that will be seen as a way to satisfy conservatives in his conference like ben nelson but not scare away the liberals. host: if our viewers are tuning in yesterday watch in the health-care debate, it probably have heard harry reid make comments about republican strategy. let us show the viewers and we will come back and talk ab

nelson to nelson. the horse arrived as washington did. and i decided i will take out the ending of this book i was planning and write a whole book about that ending about washington going home for christmas. so they're came a second accidental book. i was working after that on a book on world war ii a triple biography of macarthur, marshall and eisenhower who were interconnected during world war ii. chapter 11 dealt with a battle of the bulge. it became so long that it was on balancing the book. and so i took out chapter 11 and wrote 11 days in december about the battle of the bulge which happened to end the day after christmas. it became in effect the third christmas book. writing about the war again i began a book which i am still working on on the reelection of abraham lincoln in 1864. lincoln didn't expect to get reelected. he fought with a war going badly he was going to be free place and he was very fatalistic about it. it turned out the soldier boat during the war the first time there was a sold

senator nelson, i appreciate your statement, sir.ition. how do we provide that? i think the program is a great start. the program director will be testifying here today. i recommend you ask her some questions about how she feels about to the authorities that have been provided to her. you have heard care coalition, care coalition, many times. this is the advocacy group from the special operations command. andrew did not know who to call first. from day one, this was my one point of contact. they have been able to organize my life when i was not able to print them they were able to itemize the pros and cons of staying active duty forces retirement -- vs retirement. they have made my life easier. i have never been told no by that coalition. i have been told maybe a couple of times on some sticky issues. i feel that the way that they have modeled, they should be modeled after, they were able to take me from the most dramatic day of my life and have taken me through where i was able to graduate with my dissertation and ph.d.. at one poin

he returned to nelson who had strong demand. s.ry reid was closing in on the deal and less than 48 hours before the necessary motions had to be filed, another crisis erupted. republicans were in a full-court press to extend debate even a bad man a filibuster to the defense appropriations bill to post on health care. democrats found themselves one vote short of squashing the deal. an ardent war creek had pledged to oppose spending. harry reid was unwilling to challenge him on a vote of conscience and when democrats gathered for another special caucus meeting last thursday, harry reid was ready to concede defeat at ejected centers began to leave, feingold a rose. he vowed to vote for his party. the next night, harry reid shook hands with ben nelson. that produced the abortion adjustment. he got a congratulatory phone call from the president. host: as drew armstrong told us this morning, this is not the end. there will be signed of reconciliation to be determined with the house bill which includes a public option parade in a few minut

senator nelson may have helped on medicaid, but has not helped nebraska with medicare cuts.e day, i hope the people realize it is not over. this is a long way from being done. if you want to change, speak up. let people know. the cuts are going to affect people in nebraska, and tax increases will affect people in nebraska, and this abortion language, the conference of bishops understands the difference between stupac language and this language, and they have decided to oppose the bill. that's as all i need to know about the pro-life issue, when the conference of catholic bishops say they oppose the language and opposed the bill because of language. that is all you need to know from my point of view. i do not always agree with the catholic church, particularly on the death penalty, but i agree with them on right-to-life issue. they have just got to pass the bill, because the democratic party features, that is the with a look at this thing. they go from reforming health care to worry about the future of the democratic party. whatever it took to get the last boat,that is what t

st a few days ago they thght senator nelson might lee the talks and they might collapse. so i think getting this through, whatever u think out it substantively as a legislative accomplishme really can be minimized. >>oodruff: let's talk about some of these thgs that we heard inetty ann bowser's piece that have to be resolved before you g it cometely finished. first of a, the public opti. in the house language, there is a public option, a government-run insurce plan. the senate has something different, 5state exchans. hodid that get worked through? >> i tnk that the liberals are gointo have to give up a lot of whathey want and whathey care about in this legislation. you know, passed the senate with no room r error. it got exactly 60 votes. 60otes is what it needed. they can't afforto lose a sinkeldam at or independen withomething like 9 public option i think t liberal democrats e going to have to accept e fact that if they wt this bill they have to ve up on that. >> woodruff: what are the political rces again the public optio i mean and how ithat at play. as you say tre is

senator nelson, that is a minor part of the issues. we started working on that weeks and weeks ago, that provision. >> do you have 60 commitments now for the commitments of fine gold? do you have everybody? >> it seems that way. [laughter] thank you very much. good job, you guys. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> shortly later, republicans held a briefing on health care, beginning with minority leader mitch mcconnell. >> good morning, everybody. i hope you live on the hill. incredible day. it is still coming down. i have a rugged commute. i live about a half block from the hart building. i left the suburbs 20 years ago. i cannot take it. i am not even sure that a pizza stores are going to be able to deliver tonight. is everybody all set? let me just say in the beginning that if they were proud of this bill, they would not be doing it this way, jamming it through in the middle of the night in the last weekend before christmas, and that sums up, i think, bu

>> with senator nelson? >> senator nelson if you have talked to him. >> we talk on a regular basis simply because we both represent the state and we work together well. i have known the senator for many years. when i was mayor he was governor and when i was governor he was a senator so we have had an ongoing working relationship. so it is not unusual for us to talk any given day whether it is on the floor, walking back toward fourth or on the phone. i can't offer much beyond that and i am always very careful about what we do talk about it. our working relationship has been good. we talked a lot in the year that i have been here. [inaudible] >> boucher to go ask him. i would hate to add anything to that debate, so better to ask him. >> the commission on wartime crowd debiting >> now a hearing on contacting the oversight in afghanistan. a new congressional study says 56,000 contractors could be headed to afghanistan as the president's troop surge begins. meanwhile i house committees investigating allegations t

senator bill nelson of florida -- quote -- "i don't know what the deal is." my colleague, senator landrieu of louisiana -- quote -- "there's no specific compromise. there were discussions. until the package that was sent is scored, we really don't even know what's in it." senator casey of pennsylvania -- quote -- "any big agreement is progress even if we do not know any of the details." senator feinstein of california referred to a meeting on the majority side recently -- quote -- "there was no explanation. it was just sort of 'go, team, go.'." and senator ben nelson of nebraska talking about a similar majority meeting -- quote -- "general concepts but nothing very specific at all." then at least yesterday, mr. president, this new mega bill, this 383-page amendment referencing another 286-page bill, attached to an underlying underlying2,074-page bill -- so that finally happened yesterday morning. but, mr. president, i'm afraid it's not progress enough, it's "time" enougtime enough considee set to vote on this new mega bill in just a few hours, starting at 1:0

the biggest story of the year being the senate leadership bribing senator nelson of alaska to secure a 60-vote on the health care bill. everyone except for nebraska is forced to pay for their services while nebraska's are not. article 2 states attacked the vice president and also will office of the u.s. will be removed from office on impeachment or conviction of bribery. therefore, centers read, nelson, and possibly other senate leaders to include the president and vice president should be charged at once with articles -- with bribery. host: dallas, tx, your favorite political story of the year? caller: for the gentleman that called in from michigan, this economy was bad when george bush was in there, but when robins was in there, everybody tried to keep everything -- when republicans was in there, everybody tried to keep everything hush,. the other thing that i did not like was when they were calling him hibbert -- hibbert and signs and guns and everything. i think it was distasteful and disrespectful. thank you very much. you have a blessed day and a merry christmas. host: thank yo

it was hatch -- it was nelson nelson-hatch-casey, and it didn't pass. so i began the process of trying to find other solutions that i thought equally walled off the use of federal funds and made it clear that no federal funds would be used. now, apparently i didn't say "mother may i" in the process of writing that language because others took issue with it, even though they cannot constructively point out how it doesn't prohibit the use of federal funds or wall off those funds or keep them totally segregated. they just didn't like the language. well, you know, if in the conference the stupak-nelson-hatch-casey language passes, i'll be happy, and so will congressman stupak and so would, i would imagine, those who signed on to that legislation. you know, it's unfortunate, though, to continue to distort and misrepresent what happens here in the body of the senate. it's difficult enough to have comity t.'s difficult enough to have cooperation. it's difficult enough to have collegiality. when politics are put above policy and productivity, this is what we ge

host: what did the democrats have to do to get nelson on board?: acquiesce to a few of his demands and now for a couple of deals as part of legislation. there is compromise abortion language in the bill to make it a little harder for women who want to use insurance with federal funds to pay for abortions. also, the state of nebraska will never have to pay for the expansion of medicaid that is called for in healthcare reform bill. decade is a program that provides health care to the poor that is jointly funded by state and federal governments. for nebraska it will not be partly funded by the state. it will only be paid for by washington. there are few other things in there that nelson wanted which he got. host: any chance of that schedule which now looks like a christmas eve vote for final passage -- any chance it will be shortened? callerguest: no, the only way if the republicans feel the back time. they could say that although we have the votes to end debate or break a filibuster, we will not require you to use although 30 hours of debate time le

>> there are two of them i believe, senator nelson and senator bob casey. i think possibly byron dorgan of north dakota and maybe can't conrad of north dakota but i'm not sure about them. >> hobaugh republicans that my vote against it? the most of them. the only to that i think what our lumpiest nolan susan collins. they said they liked the language in the bill as it is. >> what are the possible implications and then i will ask the same questions about a failing. >> it is likely that democrats will have senator nelson vote on the bill. if i can just go ahead and answer your other question, if it does not pessin to nelson said he will not support the bill unless some sort of more restrictive abortion language is added to it. >> with more health care debate possible this weekend are you getting any sense of the mood of senators as they continue working on this bill? >> we have been staking out these meetings they have been having on the public option almost every night and when the more liberal senators come out of these meetings that it always seemed to be i

>> senator ben nelson and senator orrin hatch.they have introduced the amendment and hope it passes. i can confidently say it will probably not. >> what will the abortion amendment do? >> it would restrict abortion coverage by insurers to operate in these new exchanges. it would forbid the public option from covering most abortions altogether. the only abortions it could cover would be those related to rape or or the mother's life is in danger. >> there seems to be another holdup. what took so long? >> democratic leaders wanted to get rid of it last week. senator hatch objected to that. he said anti-abortion interest groups had not had enough time to review the amendment. >> can you name democrats that have indicated they may vote for this amendment? >> there are two of them. there may be two others but i am not sure. >> committee republicans will vote against it? >> most of them. the only two that i think will not are those from maine. they like the word as it is. >> what of the possible implications -- what are the possible impl

nelson: madam president, we here have in front of us appropriations bills. we have heavy matters of the deficit. we have heavy matters of how that we're going to get the united states government to bring its fiscal house in order. i remind the senate that it was the last time that we have had a surplus was in 2001, and if we had been wise and had not cut the revenue of this country so significantly, we could have been good stewards of that healthy surplus and we could have paid off the national debt over a 12-year period, and we wouldn't be where we are today, but we are, and in these matters that are weighing heavily on us, it seems that our attention is being continuously diverted to other things, such as white house party crashers and the unfortunate circumstances that one of the most famous athletes finds himself in, tiger woods. we have a debate about the health care bill, and it seems like that in the course of last summer that the whole health care was about one subject, and that was the question of a public option. and we now know that all the expert

i spoke with senator nelson, and he is adamant that that language does not change in conference. the language she worked out would not change. i know that congressman's department has been talking on his side about pressing -- congresssman stupak has been talking about moving in the house direction. they could lose the support of liberals who signed off on senator nelson's language. >> thank you for the update and have a happy holiday. >> thank you. you, too. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> coming up next, a report by the center for american progress on women and the work force. that is followed by the senate vote on health care with reaction from president obama. later, in an interview about the army's wounded warrior program that assists disabled veterans. this week on "newsmakers" our guest is the director of the national institutes of health. he discusses stem cell research, genome technology, and how his agency can be affected by the health care bill. c-span, christmas day. a look ahead to 20

nelson: i ask to call up amendment 2962 and that the clerk read. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator the senam nebraska, mr. nelson, proposes amendment number 2962. beginning on page 16, strike line 15 -- mr. nelson: madam president, i ask that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: madam president -- mrs. boxer: would my friend yield for a unanimous consent request? would my friend yield for a unanimous consent request? mr. nelson: yes. mrs. boxer: we've been talking -- the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: thank you. madam president, we're trying to get the times locked in so senators who have come over here get their time. so i would ask unanimous consent that senator nelson speak for ten minutes, boxer for five, mikulski for ten, grassley for ten, cornyn for ten, gillibrand for ten, and then senator mccain, would you like some time? mr. mccain: i object. mrs. boxer: i'm sorry. the presiding officer: objection is heard. m

ben nelson, anch lincoln. are they okay now becse of this, que, deal? >>hat's what we're all waiting to see. it is funny toort of watch the spotlight move froone whoever the 60th ve is at that moment to theext. it waslympia snow. then it wa ben nelsonor a long time. blanch linco has been in th spotlight. she sort of takes rself out of it. she's not as high prile as some of the others. what we're looking f is blan lincoln from arkansas, ben lson from nebraska still two of t big names that everybodis waiting to see. e one who has popped up cently has been jim web from virginia sply because he's been vote ing with the republicans on a lot of the amendments. there's some concernhat maybe he'sot as strong as we thought could be. he cou be the 60th vote. >> lrer: when the president said, as we hain a clip after e meeting with the democrats,e said there are still differences. what's he talking about? well, the biggest difference i thinky far has to do with abortion lauage and how tough threstrictions should bon abortion. senator benelson of nebraska who we've

h guest: ben nelson is working with republican from utah. on tougher abortion restrictions that would essentially prohibit the public plan being discussed from offering elective abortion discussion and it makes it harder for people to buy coverage to have access to abortion services. this language that they're working on mimics the one that was asserted in the house bill. that was a product of amendment offered by congressman stup ac and what they're trying do. nelson and hatch and other anti-abortion forces in the senate is insert this language so when they go to congress and combine with it the house bill, it'll survive. but there's a lot of abortion right percentages and this nelson act will more than likely fail. host: clyde on the independent line. morning. is it a must pass this year bill you think? al caller: absolutely not. the best thing they can do for healthcare is get government and insurance companies out of the way and let the patient deal with the healthcare providers. this is about redistribution of wealth and controlling 1/6