bruce johnson, executive vice president of the chamber of commerce, and democratic governor bill ritter of colorado. >>> but first, making sense of health care reform for the entire hour. welcome to our panel here. you know, the president wrote on the op-ed page is that this is a great debate for america right now. we want a civil and informative debate which is what i think we'll have this morning. i want to talk in a few minutes about three major areas of the health care debate. i want to talk about the anger, emotion, fear that's out there. let me begin with you -- all of the town halls have to alter or derail the chance of reform this year? >> it's a good thing. it's drawn greater focus on the issue. president obama out there in places all over the country talking and setting the record straight. these are emotional issues. this is the noise of democracy. you ask 300 people what they should do about health care, you get a lot of good ideas. some are emotional. the bottom line is this helps a lot. >> doesn't hurt -- you really believe it doesn't hurt? >> obviously, the misinformation

country, charlie rangel of new york, bruce josten, vice president of the chamber of commerce, bill ritter of colorado. >> but first making sense of health care reform for the entire hour, welcome to our panel here. the president wrote this the great debate for america right now. i think what the public also wants is a civil and informative debate, which is what i think we'll have this morning. i want to talk in a few minutes about three major areas of contention in this health care debate." first i want to talk about the anger, fear out there. senator daschle, i want to talk to you. have all of these town halls altered or derailed the chance for reform on this issue? >> i think it's been a good thing. i think it's drawn a greater focus on the issue. you have president obama talking and trying to set the record straight. these are emotional issues. this is the voice of democracy. you ask people about what to do about health care, you're going to get a lot of different ideas, some very emotional. but the bottom line, it really does help a lot. >> it hurt, doesn't hurt. you really believe it

is here. [ applause ] as well as the extraordinary first lady of the state, jeannie ritter is here as well. [ applause ] two of the finest young senators that we've got in washington right now, senator mark udoll and senator michael bennett. [ applause ] i want to thank the hospitality of grand junction mayor bruce hill. [ applause ] and finally, i want to thank hilly bishop for the invocation and i want to thank the central high students for their national anthem and pledge of allegiance. thank you, guys. [ applause ] oh, and central high principal jody deer who is here. [ applause ] it turns out school starts in two days.

. >> john ritter got from peter stood up beside us the highest for my patriotism to if you are your congressmen are an enemy of the state. i can't remember in the last years any movement in america that hasn't gotten sympathetic coverage from the media except for the tea parties earlier this year, except for this. it's obviously part of partisanship and ideological bias sympathetic to disagree. i believe it was ari fleischer who said people need to watch what the senate questionnaire raise criticism. that doesn't wash. i think the media, if they're liberal and for this, it ain't helping because this is being endlessly replayed. they have fallen totally into this is conflict. people -- you ever -- they're several issues. i think the media should be looking at who are the groups that are organizing this. just as it should george soros is doing. >> are they organizing it? >> there are interesting talk about it being pharmaceutical companies, millionaires it's not average people whipping this up. where the white house screwed this up they call the mama. you don't call%, thank you call% a month when

dow ritter. if he were to decide suddenly to spend a lot more time with his family, where's the visine? i've got something in my eye. if he were to spend more time with his family. oh, okay, feel better now. then that stock would go to $8. fifth third's in good shape to go to good position, while huntington region has a lot of room to run. right now we're waiting for hundreds of banks to fail, and the ones left standing like the three i mentioned, will be able to take share and will be able to take the assets of the loser banks from the fdic for a pittance. that's smart speculation, especially now that every single one of these was hammered today. giving you a territory point. mobile internet plays? hey, they've been on the move. and you know i favor abc, telecom, semiconductor and cypress. they're all cheap on the basis of a multiyear move and i think that's going to happen because of the mobile internet tsunami. but at the same time, i see level three communications. lvlt another sippingle-digi

sonlike many of the countrs other hospitals the medicines at the international andard and 9 again ritterst run out of fuel. this july, the hospital registered 50% jump i vilian casualties. >> we are seeing arod 700 inpatients day, 600 have be discharged so we have 100 patients staying at the hpital there are some - there are some wards that e around 140, 15even 175% of the d occupancy so were really having a lot of inpaents. >> reporter: there e 20 red cross trned surgeons here able to perform 700 operationevery month. theye currently running at capaci, with the majority of surgees performed on those injured in the fighng. and they're still comi. >> lehrer: and the analysis ofrooks and marcus. "new york times" lumnist david brks and "washingt post" columnist ruth maus. mark shieldss away. david, speaking of afghanistan, public opinion polls ithe united stat show support forthat war is minishing. th's going on. >>right,olitically here at homehis is going to be quite a flashpoint issue. rit now the majority democrats think thear is to the wor fighting. the majority of republans thinthe war

anthony, suffrage, rosie the ritter, but then also on the bottom the story of how regular women livend how their lives changed as all these things happen. and a very big believer when i see a picture of the signing of the magna carter or the first thanksgiving or joan of arc in the field or whatever -- i always want to know where the people went to the bathroom and what kind of issues they have and whether it comfortable. of those things to me, the thing about history. so we had a two-story sort of running right along the other and i wanted to do that -- what happened with this book was a wonderful book to write, i was so happy to do it, but you have all had the appearance of taking history courses, the survey of world history or whatever and you get great information that but by the time you get to world war ii there is no more time, it's the end of the year. i went to all of my education and never found out about how world were to get started, just never got to it, and i sort of happened with this book. by the time i got to world war ii i was sort of ad of time and out of pages and

. >> i'm i'm like john ritter's age. >> good morning, everybody. >> a new record on guardesill, helpingvoid death. but two studies found by federal and academic researchers show low rates and side effects with the blockbuster cervical cancer vac even. but questionable tactics by merck. next month, advisers will term whether to approval guardasil by mouth. there's hpv transmission. >>> global corporate bond issuance is rising above the $ trillion mark. this is the first time it's broken through that threshold in a single year. the jump can partially be attributed to companies that have a hard time obtaining bank loans. >> all right. if you have comments or questions about anything you see here on squawk, e-mail us at squawk@cnbc.com. a quick break now and we'll have news that is making headlines that aren't necessarily business related and we reserve the right to talk about anything. if you're going to write in, stop talking about politics because we're not going to do it because it's about business. we'll be right back. chloe is 9 months old. she is the greatest thing ever. woman: one l

when governor bill ritter came into office in 2007, healthcare was a top priority of his administration. and there was really a deliberate decision to focus on children's coverage and health access issues. and while we have a couple of excellent managed care plans that participate in the medicaid program, the vast majority of our medicaid clients' children are seen in a fee for service model. and for us, that raised some serious concerns or questions about the sustainability and increased costs associated with that fee for service model. it also raised some questions about the extent to which children were receiving preventative care, getting their immunizations, -- having care coordination. it raised serious questions about access. at that time, only 20% of our private pediatricians and family practice physicians participated in the medicaid program. and of course, you know, at the top of the list for not participating is the lack of reimbursement. but when you really dig down a little deeper, there are a variety of barriers that primary care physicians list as barriers to taking medic

when governor bill ritter came into office in 2007, healthcare was a top priority of his administration. and there was really a deliberate decision to focus on children's coverage and health access issues. and while we have a couple of excellent managed care plans that participate in the medicaid program, the vast majority of our medicaid clients' children are seen in a fee for service model. and for us, that raised some serious concerns or questions about the sustainability and increased costs associated with that fee for service model. it also raised some questions about the extent to which children were receiving preventative care, getting their immunizations, -- having care coordination. it raised serious questions about access. at that time, only 20% of our private pediatricians and family practice physicians participated in the medicaid program. and of course, you know, at the top of the list for not participating is the lack of reimbursement. but when you really dig down a little deeper, there are a variety of barriers that primary care physicians list as barriers to taking medic

ritter. i was a team leader during your campaign. -- i am a retired health-care administrator. are we winning support from members of congress? do you think we're making a difference? >> the fact is that you already have one of the best members of congress, if you talk to her, you are preaching to the choir. she is sitting here right now. even if you live in a strongly democratic district where there is a strong progressive member of congress who is already in favor of health-care reform, convincing people more broadly about the need for reform still makes a difference. unfortunately, washington is assessed with a snap poll. they are obsessed with what is played on talk radio or what is said at a town hall meeting. you can have 20 really simple and sensible town hall meetings but if there's one that gets someone screaming, that will be on television. -- you can have 20 really civil town hall meetings. there are many senior citizens in your district. seniors, right now, are the most worried of any population group about health reform. they are the most nervous and this is unders

thousands of workers who provide essential services like teachers and police officers and governor ritter will tell you, if we had not had some of that money in, then colorado would have had to make much more painful job cuts, in vital services, and might have had to put in place some very painful state and local tax increases, so that was the second third of the recovery act. now, the last third of the recovery act is for investments that are already putting people back to work. there are almost 100 shovel-ready transportation projects already approved in colorado which are beginning to create jobs. not far from here, for example, there is a project to pave and add lanes to state highway 92. most of the work is being done by local businesses. because that's how we're going to create jobs and grow this economy again. by next month, projects will be under way at more than 100 national parks all over america, including colorado. these are -- -- these are projects restoring trails, improving infrastructure, making park facilities more energy efficient. earlier today, some of you may know, i

we are seeing health care inflation go up twice as fast as ritter inflation.inesses are being crippled by it. -- twice as fast as rising inflation. all we have said is let's keep the private system intact but let's make sure that people who cannot get health insurance, that they are able to buy into the market. and let's have some consumer protections to make sure that those of us with health insurance don't end up getting a bad deal because we did not read the fine print and think we have coverage, and then when we get sick it turns out we are vulnerable because insurance companies are not operating in the interests of their customers. >> i would like to drive an f150 and i communicated with e-mail with the ones who sold me this. they said cash for clunkers was a wonderful initiative, but the payments are late. i am hearing from many folks who say if the government cannot get it together for this program i don't want to entrust my health care to the government. >> let me address cash for clunkers. it has been successful beyond anybody's imagination. we are no

there is, however, came before consistency and ritter.should incentivize the contractor to perform as an excellent. i support the recommendation that it has established definitions of performance, associated fees, and skills that motivate performance and prohibited award fees for unsatisfactory performance. in closing, the department's procurement policy insurers it is effectively using contracts to incentivize excellent contract performance and is in line with the omb guidance from to her -- from september, 2007. we will address the concerns raised by gao and recognize that major program fee requirements need to be tailored to the different mission portfolios and contract objectives. specifically, we will issue expanded guidance on choosing the contract type, defining rating categories, defining standards of performance, and the fee paid for meeting the standard. we're committed to work with and participate in an intra-agency working group to be established to determine how best to evaluate the effectiveness for improving contracts perfo