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Of getting their members to vote for, certainly in the senate. you see the political realities on the republican side. you want to work in a bipartisan fashion. looking at the political realities as they are in washington, is there anything you can say here specifically right now where you think there could be agreement between democrats and republicans on this? >> steve, i do. if we do it like we're supposed to, get in the committees, hear from the public and we can find improvement. i have a bill in to bring premiums down through using reinsurance. reinsurance it's a back stop. insurance com...

Medicaid? >> back stop for lower income folks, the folks that are struggling among us, our colleagues, our peers, friends, and making sure there is a safety net there. i support that. my fellow republicans support that. >> isn't medicaid money that the federal government provides to states so they can reimburse hospitals to care for the poor? so if there's less money being paid to states to care for the poor, how does that reform the program that is literally based on money to pay hospitals to care for the poor? >> because that money is hard working american taxpayer dollars, that is not an en...

Have to set up a spin-off that be walled off from our system that protects you as a back stop? >> right, i want to make this distinction. we protect and continue to protect depositors. we no longer protect as a result of this bill, the institution, an aig or any other. the institution could still fail but there would be a claim on deposit insurance. i don't want to protect shareholders or bond holders or boards of directors from imprudent decisions, but you can't penalize the average depositor since we're talking about sums of $250,000 or less. what the amendment does is to remove that safegua...

If you want to go and play in this very risky, lucrative market that can blow up in a massively destructive way, you have to set up a spin-off that be walled off from our system that protects you as a back stop? >> right, i want to make this distinction. we protect and continue to protect depositors. we no longer protect as a result of this bill, the institution, an aig or any other. the institution could still fail but there would be a claim on deposit insurance. i don't want to protect shareholders or bond holders or boards of directors from imprudent decisions, but you can't penalize the av...

Benefit plans, some want to offer 401(k)s, remove bailout from the equation. >> rich, should it be only 401(k)s, no pension plans? >> well, i agree with john, but most companies and unions should go with 401(k)s. as warren buffett says, the best plan is dollar cost average into a broad s&p 500 index and outperform the professional managers 8 out of 10 times. >> rick, corporate pension plans are the back stop, it is funded by insurance premiums that companies pay. i think mike probably agrees, but still, taxpayers could be on the hook for it. >> i have to say, carrie made a good point. the conc...