Stimu Less News Today

Their ideas you incorporate, republicans are not going to support this, period. joining us now is ezra klein. staff writer at the washington post who did not know about, nor does he endorse the snarky thing i said about his paper a moment before he came on the show. >> good evening, i dont even think i heard it. >> hooray, thats the best defense. >> dont watch the tivo. are there substantive policy disagreements here? it does not seem to me like the disagreements here are about policy, it seems ...

Unions do today. >> check. thats exactly what the proposed health insurance exchanges are all about. the more people that are allowed to participate in these exchanges, the greater the risk pool becomes and the lower the costs get. the second republican demand already in the bill. >> number three, give states the tools to create their own innovative reforms that lower health care costs. >> im beginning to sound like a broken record here, but check, also in the bill. section 1332 of the senate bi...

So im going to be starting from scratch in the sense that i will be open to any ideas that help promote these goals. >> president obama originally wanted health reform done by august. that did not happen because max baucus decided to waste three months. now mr. obama plans to hold a bipartisan health summit in two weeks. it will be similar to the bipartisan health summit that mr. obama held at the white house last march. when president obama addressed house republicans last month, he rattled off...

Reform, otherwise known as in the bill. the senate bill calls on individual states to develop new ways to deal with malpractice lawsuits. ail turntives that could be funded by congress. the senate health reform bill addresses everything that the republicans have identified as their main concerns for policy on health reform. and the republican reaction is to say, the bill must be scrapped. let me not put words in their mouths, let them do it. >> it really is time to scrap the bill and start over....

Up with something and said, heres what a compromised bill will look like. and it looked like what were looking at. that was true in 1994, the bill were looking at looks a lot like the mainstream caucus they came up as an alternative to the clinton plan. the fact of the matter is giving the president a large accomplishment is not a political compromise, its a kploms nobo compromise nobody knows how to reach right now. >> you may have heard senator wyden pushing this idea of cooperation, we think ...

People first. >> if republicans continue to pledge to vote no as they have thus far, and what were going to be talking about with ezra klein on that section sft bill youre talking about, a republican proposal adopted by those who drafted the senate bill and something that republicans still arent saying theyre going to support, if republicans still pledge to vote against it, despite these constructive efforts, how do you pass it anyway? >> im prepared to say we are going to keep all options on th...

Thats been done so well, we have 10.2% unemployment. >> the democratic stimulus bill has famed to system u lit anything other than a few bureaucrats. >> many warned as did i that the stimulus would amount to a mountain of wasted money. >> can you tell me where the stimulus money is? >> the $787 billion stimulus package only stimulated more welfare. >> were united in imposing the massive waste filled stimulus, or as i prefer to call it, stimu-less bill. >> its a bad idea that does bad things, bad...

Kumbaya, sure, democrats are the majority, are but why not let republicans make policy too? its the policy thats held sway in washington for the last year. in october john boehner issued the minority partys demands for what they wanted out of health reform. >> number one, let families and businesses buy health insurance across state lines. >> check. as ezra klein of the washington post points out, the senate version of the health reform bill actually allows for that. theres a whole section relat...

Efforts were incorporated into the senate bill. theyre still complaining about tort reform, still complaining theyre going to vote against it. are you feeling like theres anything constructive coming from republicans on this? or are you just asking for that? >> i have been talking to republicans, ive been talking to democrats, and i think if both sides get together. we can say lets go after the special interests rather than each other, lets try to score policy points rather than political points...