joining me now is senator tom harkin of iowa, a member of the senate health committee. when do we drop this bipartisan agreement and realize what this fight is about? it's an ideological struggle between liberals, progressives and also the conservatives who really don't want reform. what's your take on it? >> well, ed, you're right. the conservatives, they just want the status quo, they're happy with the system that exists right now, and i think the american people need to know that. and i think they're rapidly understanding that. i look at it this way. last fall, the american people voted overwhelmingly for barack obama to make some changes. they also voted overwhelmingly for democrats to run the house and the senate. and so they have asked us to take a leadership position. and so we need to lead in this, and not be afraid to lead, and to push the envelope on health care reform. >> what do you think the president should do to get conservative democrats who are wavering right now? >> well, i think he needs to talk to them. and i think we needs to show everyone that this

tom harkin joins us now live from capitol hill. senator, great to see you. first of all, what is your view of this pact, the cadillac pact, something that we first heard from john kerry, one of your colleagues. is that something that could become the basis of a bipartisan compromise? >> well, andrea, i don't know, because we really don't know what the finance committee is going to come up with credit. there's a lot of things floating around. i've heard even, maybe, a tax, somehow on soda. other sin kind of taxes, sin taxes, things like that. there's taxes on offshore investments. everything is floating around. nothing, as far as i know, has really kind of gelled yet. >> how frustrating it is for you all who have worked in the health committee to be waiting on max baucus? >> it's a little frustrating, but we did our job. and i think the bill that we reported out of the health committee is a good bill for america. i think the single most personal thing that it does is it puts a major emphasis on keeping people healthy, prevention and wellness, rather than just

tom harkin grappled with prevention issues, developed a staff with expertise and knowledge. barbara mikulski worked on quality issue. did the same as tom harkin. patty murray did it on workforce. jeff bingaman did it on coverage. they had 11 or 12 hearings themselves on the subject matter even before a word was written on the bill, to bring people together to listen to ideas and how we could strengthen those ideas as part of the structure of reform for the health care system. and then that culminated with us sitting down beginning back five or six weeks ago now to actually mark up this bill, as we are expected to do. true, my republican friends in our committee did not vote for the bill. i've said that, regretfully. it was pretty clear to me that was probably going to happen no matter what we did. but they contributed and they made significant contributions. of the 161 amendments, mr. president, that we accepted offered by the republican side of the 300-plus amendment that we considered, 161 amendments offered by the minority are very much a part of the bill that i've been t

we will be talking to senator tom harkin. later in the program, we will be talking to nathan deal, a republican in the energy and commerce committee. finally, ouearl pomeroy. let's hear your phone call reactions. first, here's how you dial in. democrats, 202-737-0002. republicans, 202-737-0001. independents, 202-628-0205. before the first call, let's move to the senate side. there is a bipartisan group of six senators working on a draft of legislation to move forward in the senate. how is the larger senate looking at their work? guest: it is difficult to characterize the senate. some people are getting impatient. other people say, no bill without republican support. the senate is all over the place right now. host: our first telephone call is from winston-salem, n.c. on the independent line. thank you. i think health care is a good thing. the biggest problem, when social security even started, when medicare came out, not one voted for it. also, the party bought it. we need to have health care for everyone. i'm an independent

tom harkin accusing his committee saying, it's time to fish or cut bait. the majority leader harry reid says this is a complex issue so he wants to give the committee more time. that means there will not be a bill before the senate's august vacation, as the president wanted it. carl cameron has more. how big a setback is this? >> this is huge. rahmy manual came up to speaker pelosi's office and brought in those fiscally conservative blue dog coalition, as they like to call it, and got nowhere. bad news. now it's the senate's turn. the senate leader harry reid will go down to the other end of pennsylvania to meet at pennsylvania avenue to meet the president in the oval office hoping for a break through. since they pushed it back until september, very, very slow. shepard: you mentioned the conservative wing of the party, the blue dog democrats. can they really block this in the house? >> yes. statistically they have the numbers. and when you take a look at that, take a look at those numbers, they have a lot of pull. first of off, you have to start with the i

i want to thank tom harkin from iowa who spent hours working on this bill to come up with ideas to reduce costs and improve the quality of health, and barbara mcculski, who herself is going through her own medical issues having broken her ankle in four places, i'm told, and working on quality issues that are critically important and jeff bingham who did work on coverage issues as well on how do we pay for this and come up with ideas that will reduce cost and make health and coverage more affordable and of course patty murray who did a great job in work be on workforce issues and jack reed who did a number of things on the bill and sheldon whitehouse and bernie sanders did a great job, and sherrod brown of ohio, who was terrific as well. i want to thank my republican colleagues, even though they didn't vote for the bill in the end. they brought ideas that made it a better bill, lamar al lesmg an der, john mccain, lisa murkowski, orrin hatch, i'm going to miss someone, but the idea is that we came together and worked. we have a product now. we need one out of the finance committee. we need

i strongly strongly support congresswoman bill and senator tom harkin's bill. we need to get that because it will change how we respond to the stimulus but we need a range of tools for i was giving a talk at a google and i went into the cafeteria. it was striking in front divvies fruit is either a red or yellow or green assigned and it is right in your face and it has a real effect. red means eat small amount for a taste yellow a moderate amount or green is as much as you want. i was in charge of regulating third and it had a major effect on me. we have to change how we perceive the stimulus and have to have greater disclosure. what is served in the schools, at vending machines, you try as hard as you can and kids are stimulated with sugar, fat, and salt they have to change how we regulate advertising. menu labelling is a key step in changing how we perceive the product. >> good afternoon. despite your questions on rules we cannot just tell coke or burger king or mcdonald's to stop serving through. since you are no longer an official and you can talk about thes

and my democratic colleagues, obviously, with tom harkin working on the issues in the bill, holding ahearing to develop the ideas, murkowski about improving quality, bingaman serving in the kit -- both committees, pat roberts on coverage, with an idea on the pay or play for the employers, making certain that everyone will be covered, murray made a contribution on the workforce, we will get people the health care that they need, the primary health care of the nation. jack reed made a number of contributions that have been worthwhile, and you are working on the biological issue and he was able to achieve what he wanted despite the differences, bernie sanders in increasing the penalties for the people guilty of fraud and abuse, sherrod brown on biologics and other areas. we did not prevail with your idea but this will go forward. casey made great contributions, kay, you hvave helped with these issues and the part-time workers and making certain that they not discriminate, jeff merkley, for the council yesterday to provide the support so intelligent people are making decisions, and sheldo

our guests are david wh lightman, tom harkin, and nathan deal. plus congressman earl pomeroy. he is part of the blue dog coalition, a car but fiscally conservative democrats. "washington journal," live every morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> george winn it signed a declaration of independence. he was also murdered. bruce l. chadwick on "i am murdered," and at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific hear on c- span. >> after his recent trip to afghanistan and pakistan, richard holbrooke answered reporters' questions about the political situation there. topics include efforts to train afghan security forces, afghanistan's upcoming elections, and pakistan's military offensive against the pack -- the taliban. from the state department, this is 40 minutes. >> we have special envoy in richard holbrooke back from his visit and it was time to give you an update on the situation in both countries as we deal with the current situation in pakistan and also had toward the elections in afghanistan. richard, thank you for coming. >> thank you. i would be happy to take your questions. ju

we're joined by david light man, senator tom harkin, nathan deal.e talking to one of the members of the blue dog democrats. >> on c-span radio, here 1960 eighth her phone calls from lbj. >> now, remarks on counter- terrorism from gen napolitano. she talks about the obama administration's efforts to engage the public at large and work with local law enforcement. >> please turn off your cellphone, blackberries and all the other wireless devices you have to avoid interference. i would like to remind everyone that this meeting is on the record. janet napolitano is charged with helping people deal with disasters. she has led the federal response to this one will and to the obama administration efforts to contain drug cartel violence. she has also begun the task of bringing an initiative water and effectiveness to an agency widely described as a bureaucratic zoo. homeland security combined 22 separate agencies, customs, immigration, the transportation, security in administration and the federal emergency management as well as the coast guard a secret serv

first of all, this guy is a fierce warrior on behalf of the disabilities community, tom harkin.ive him a round of applause. [applause] another person who could not be here, but was instrumental in getting the passage of this landmark legislation is bob dole. but his wonderful partner, elizabeth dole, is here. [applause] and attorney general and some legal work very hard on this issue, richard thornburgh. -- and someone who worked very hard on this issue, richard thornburgh. [applause] welcome to the white house. [laughter] we are thrilled to have you all here for a historic announcement involving our global commitment for fundamental human rights for persons with disabilities. i am also honored to marking the anniversary of the historic piece of civil rights legislation for so many people who helped make it possible. i would like to reflect on the for a few moments. i am reminded today of my father-in-law. you have heard this story. he was michele's hero. he was a vibrant and athletic man who provided for his family as a shift worker at a water treatment plant in chicago. in his

by contrast, senator tom harkin of iowa has come out, saying, you know what?can do this just with democrats. we have 60 votes in the senate so we do not need the republicans. democrats are deeply conflicted on this health care issue as the clock continues to tick. jon: 60% believe it is somewhat likely that middle class taxes will rise. >> is a big number, and when the house put out its version of the reform bill, the big controversy provision there was that they would hang it all on the rich, who only soaking the rich, adding up to 5.4% more in income taxes to the people and households earning a million dollars or more, 8% or 2. glut most americans, overwhelming numbers, believe that really, it is going to end up and get soaked with higher taxes. they're looking at these polls, and it will be four times as big as next year. they said, how are we going to do this? a plan for health care reform on top of a couple of trillion dollar deficit. that is why they have three weeks schiedam, which is what my sources are telling me. jon: senator tom coburn, a physician

representatives, no one in the city who worked harder on issues advocating for those with disabilities than tom harkin has. i heard him make that moving and beautiful tribute to his brother. senator harkin's brother, there is a building on gallon debt's -- gallaudet's campus named after senator harkin's brother. i am fortunate to sit on the board at that university. that institutition has lifted up so many people, and his brother was a big part of that, and senator harkin is a big part of the success of that institution in advocating for the rights of the disabled. so, thank you. madam president, i ask unanimous consent to insert that at a different place in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you. i rise to speak, madam president, about the united states-china strategic and economic dialogue, the so-called s.e.d., which began earlier today in washington. dozens of chinese officials descended on our city over the weekend and are now negotiating, discussing, engaging the strategic and economic dialogue with comparable officials in our federal government. secretary of

this three hour portion begins with senator tom harkin who is sitting in as chairman. >> the senate committeeome to order. our chairman, senator dodd, has to chair a banking committee and until 10:30. i guess we do have a quorum of eight. we are ready to proceed. did we have a pending amendment? but i do not think so. >> know, we do not have a pending mmm. we are open for business. >> i haven't an amendment. the first, i would like to ask. i am% from last night's activities that a chairman and you intend to complete our work today. is that correct? >> in my conversations with senator dodd, he wanted to go through the day and see we could finish. but i wonder if we had the cost estimates from cbo for the amendments that we have adopted. >> we do not. i am told we do not. that is a very simple answer. >> i would hope that we would try to achieve that goal before we vot4e final passage. >> that is fair enough. anyway, the defense build on the floor. maybe in this amendment that i have a we will take more time than that. and maybe i could schedule a time later on today to try to have this amendme

i particularly want to thank tom harkin of iowa, who spent hours working on the prevention side of this bill, doing everything he could to come up with ideas to encourage behaviors that reduce costs and improve the quality of health. barbara mikulski, who herself right now is going through her own medical issues, having broken her angle in four different places, i'm told, and is being treated but did a magnificent job, is working on quality issues that are critically important. and jeff bingaman did the work on coverage issues as well, an important issue of how do we pay for this and come up with ideas that will reduce costs to make health coverage more affordable. and then of course there was patty murray as well who did a great job in working on workforce issues. i see my good friend, jack reed of rhode island who is on the floor, a member of our committee, and did a great job on a number of issues a. effecting the bill. and on down the line. kay hagan, jeff merkley, sheldon whitehouse, bob casey, shared brown of -- sherrod brown as well. i mentioned the ideas that they brought to our

let me also think cooperation of the committee members and thing tom harkin for taking over the gavel and working as hard as they did along with everyone else and enzi forgetting as much done as you're able to get accomplished last thursday as well. just to give a short of data and give some idea of our plans for proceeding, this is our 11th day in march compared we have had it 17 sessions. i done of that is a record are not but as that to be close in terms of amount of time and i'm very grateful to all the members. i talked to many of you last week and called an express my personal gratitude for the time and effort people have spent even when there has disagreement they have worked as hard as i have a am very grateful of that effort we have considered a couple hundred eminence, roughly 200 and poll by staff we have been able to accept a hundred and 11th offered by republican friends and made progress. it is my intention and today two have a break at 530 for a vote to the suspension took mike enzi that way, seven and work until nine this evening in see how things are moving here tomor

the guests are david lightman, tom harkin of iowa and nathan deal of the energy and commerce committeeearl pomeroy, a groua blue g democrat. "washington journal" is live every day at 7:00 on c- span. we have bruce chadwith on the -- chadwick on the killing that shocked a nation. >> how is c-span funded? >> publicly funded. >> i do not know. >> they get their funding through the taxes. >> public funded -- public funding? >> america's cable companies created c-span as a public service. no government mandate, no government money. >> the center for disease control announced on wednesday that certain groups of people will have priority in receiving the vaccine for h1n1. they expect to have 120 million doses ready by october. this briefing is about 40 minutes long. >> hello. first our apologies for starting late. we will have more on the acdi meeting. dr.? >> good afternoon. today the cdc convened in an urgent meeting that was scheduled outside of the usual meeting scheduled. there were asked to look at the targets and the second was about crime lord is that action -- the second was about pr

tom harkin worked very hard to see to it that there would be rewards for employees who took on the responsibility of reducing exposure to health care problems. orrin hatch prevailed with his ideas on biologics. there have been numerous contributions in may, not just technical amendments, that our -- contributions made, not just technical amendments, that our republican counterparts offered. this is where we are starting from. i still believe that we can achieve bipartisanship. the important issue is a good bill. getting a bipartisan bill that does not do anything for the people who are depending upon his will not be warmly received. a good bill that is by parts and has a chance of succeeding and also being -- a good bill that is bipartisan and has a chance of succeeding. we'll have a great health care plan good as members of the united states congress, we have very good health care. but for the millions of their fellow citizens across this country, are losing jobs, losing homes, going into bankruptcy because of the health-care crisis. they are the ones we're working for. >> do you see bringing th

i have the privilege of being the co-chairman of the world health care caucus, along with tom harkin of iowa, we're fighting tooth and nail holding on by our fingernail to exist to provide care to people who provide care to the people in these communities. i hope that reporter comes in for a cup of coffee, and i'd be happy to give her a cup of coffee. no cream or sugar, might be a little vinegar in it. please come in for a cup of coffee. i will be bend over backwards to preserve the payment rates that allow these hospitals to stay open and to continue to serve the people in smith center cans -- smith center, kansas and elsewhere and throughout america. i believe this position is completely justified. i sleep fine at night knowing that i used my so-called influence through legislation, through the rural health care coalition, through the finance committee, through the "help" committee to ensure that medicare pays these hospitals just enough to average a 1% medicare margin. 1%. 1% when she's hospitals are still fighting for their -- when these hospitals are still fighting for their liv

with that, let me turn to senator harkin and the rest of my colleagues. tom? >> first of all, mr. chairman, thank you very much for your great leadership on getting us over the finish line. it's been a long slide but we all worked hard. we all stuck together and what we now have is we now have a bill that does four things. it reduces costs, it protects choice, it assures coverage for all americans, and it also begins to change our system to be a health care system, rather than just a sick care system. as president obama has said many times, that prevention and wellness and public health is the one way that we're going to change the system so that we can keep costs down in the future. and in this bill, we have made great strides forward in putting more emphasis on prevention and keeping people healthy in the first place and keeping them out of the hospital. and so i think this is a good bill for america. it is the right prescription for what ails this country right now. and i want to thank all of my colleagues for all of the great work they did and sitting here through all these lo