President's Health Care Push; Pelosi Advocates for Health Care Reform Bill
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Sorry, I got a little jumpy there. Health care reform, it is the political issue playing out in Washington right now, and there are new developments unfolding this hour in the push and pushback, the give and take, the tug-of-war over reform. What happens with the health care debate determines the future of your medical care, so you need to be plugged in. And we are focusing on the issues, the players and the process. On Capitol Hill, House lawmakers from both parties are speaking out this hour, and members of a Senate panel get back to work trying to hammer out a bipartisan agreement. Senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash is tracking that. She'll be joining us shortly. And White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is at her post. The president preparing to take his push for health care reform to prime time. And there is Dana. Let's start with Suzanne Malveaux. The president not only dealing with a pushback from Republicans, but grumbling from Democrats. They say they need more direction on health care reform, the entire overhaul package. So, Suzanne, why is the president -- let's tee it up, it's happening this evening -- holding this news conference tonight?</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Tony, I just got off the phone with a senior administration official who kind of laid out the story, the backstory of what is happening here. Obviously, what they were hoping for, what the president was hoping for, was some sort of good news announcement that he could deliver to the American people, some progress. We are going to hear from the president talking about kind of the optimistic picture, if you will, that they are working through some of their differences, kind of in a broad-brush stroke. We're also told that these remarks, about seven minutes in length, that will cover not only health care, but kind of being more like a report card, if you will, the first six months of his presidency, what he has accomplished, what he has yet to set out to do. One of the things that we're seeing, a senior administration official tells us, the president is going to get more involved in his health care debate in a more direct way. It was just yesterday that he sat down with a group of Blue Dog Democrats, conservative Democrats, to try to at least listen to their demands, about 10 demands, concerns that they have about the health care reform plan. And a senior administration official saying there are essentially three different groups that they are worried about -- those Democrats who are concerned about costs, those who are from high-income districts. So, when they listen to the proposals about taxes for wealthy Americans and them having the burden, if you will, of paying for this health care reform. And finally, those who are against abortion rights. That they don't want federal funds going to any kind of procedures that they are against. These are the three groups that the president and administration officials very closely listening to. There will be a lot more of that, Tony, a public relations campaign tonight, but also some subtle arm-twisting going on behind the scenes, as well.</s>HARRIS: Yes. All right. Good stuff. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us. Suzanne, thank you. A bipartisan group of senators behind closed doors searching for common ground on health care reform. Senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash joining us live with the latest on those talks. And Dana, when we spoke with you yesterday, this committee was hard at work, a meeting working, pounding away, trying to come up with some kind of compromise. Where are we today in that process?</s>DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think maybe it's a little bit of Groundhog Day, Tony, because they're still doing the same thing. But I think it's important to note that what you see behind me, the office of Senator Max Baucus -- he is the Democratic finance chairman -- it's effectively a political bomb shelter, because there are about a half a dozen senators in there, Republicans and Democrats, who all say that they really feel shielded from the torpedoes being lobbed from Democrats towards Republicans, Republicans towards Democrats, over all of this rhetoric on what the best way to approach health care reform is, because they are actually -- they have their sleeves rolled up and they are actually working on every single detail. And they still do insist that they will come up with some kind of bipartisan compromise. Unclear when that will happen. They really bristle at the sense that they need to get it done by any certain timetable. Republicans and Democrats bristle on that. But they are still working very hard in a bipartisan way, and that is going to continue all day long today and probably through the end of the week.</s>HARRIS: OK. And maybe you're getting at some elements of this next question here. You've been reporting that the president is being criticized by members of his own party, really for not providing -- I guess the criticism goes this way -- for not providing real specifics on what he wants in the reform legislation. And drill down on that a bit more for us, if you will.</s>BASH: Right. Yes, here's what I'm hearing more and more from senior Democratic sources, and even one Democratic senator that I spoke to at length, and that is that they certainly appreciate the sense that the president, I think, for 10 days in a row has gone out and ratcheted up the rhetoric, ratcheted up the pressure when it comes to his top priority, health care. But what they say they are looking for as things really are problematic here among the president's own party are details. What one Democratic source said is that they're looking for the president to weigh in and actually make decisions on outstanding issues, specifically the most vexing issue, Tony, which is how to pay for this reform. Instead of just saying, this is on the table, that is on the table, they want many, many Democrats, more and more want the president to be specific on, actually, how do you want to pay for it?</s>HARRIS: Well, Dana, can I -- right. Can I jump in on that? Because this is a strategy point here. The White House has clearly decided that, look, we want Congress to work out the details, harkening back to the Clintons' attempt at health care reform where there was a set plan, here's what we want to do. And that was scuttled.</s>BASH: Absolutely. And there's no question that was a strategy, and that has been the strategy that pretty much everybody agreed to, that that was the best approach, because it basically let Democrats do their job here in Congress, which is to actually craft legislation. You know, that's quite a concept. However, the sort of long-term strategy was to let them do their thing and pass a bill in the Senate, pass a bill in the House, and then the president will weigh in when they have to make a compromise. Well, the dynamics have changed because of a divide within the president's own party. So, that's why since the dynamics have changed, you are hearing more and more Democrats saying, we need your help, Mr. President. This is your top priority. We need you to weigh in on those specifics sooner rather than later.</s>HARRIS: Yes. Yes. Wow. OK. Senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash for us. Dana, appreciate it. Thank you.</s>BASH: Thank you.</s>HARRIS: Talk to you a little bit later. And much more to come today on health care reform. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds a news conference at the bottom of the hour on the cost of health care. At 11:45 Eastern, we will hear from Republican lawmakers in a sort of preemptive strike against the president's message tonight. 12:10 Eastern, a fact check from our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. Will you really be better off under health care reform? We will also hear from the White House communication director about the president's prime-time news conference. A lot going on. A lot going on. Even more. And experts give us their 90-second prescription for fixing health care. One other note. Looking ahead to next hour -- and we love the senator, he is a great friend of the show, very smart. Republican Senator Tom Coburn joins us for a live interview. You will hear his position on health care reform. You won't want to miss that, I promise you. And we want to hear from you, of course. Josh Levs joins us to explain how you can get in on the conversation -- Josh.</s>JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We really like to hear from people talking about this issue, talking about health care, because so many people have so many personal stories about the way that it's hit them. And the way to do it is on the screen right behind me, CNN.com/Tony. In fact, let's show that picture, Tony, there, because we'll show everybody how you can weigh in on that question. What are you willing to give up? Obviously, something has got to give if this massive bill in some form is ultimately going to pass.</s>HARRIS: Can I stop you for a second?</s>LEVS: Yes.</s>HARRIS: We posed this question yesterday with the help of our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen...</s>LEVS: Oh, overwhelming.</s>HARRIS: ... who drilled down on this and said, look, this is the critical question: How much are you willing to give up? What are you willing to sacrifice?</s>LEVS: Yes. And we've had hundreds of responses. In fact, check this out. I mean, I can open up the screen right here. And as I zoom down, it's all responses that continue to come in overnight. We just keep getting more and more and more and more and more. You can see what we've got over here. I mean, I was just piecing through a handful of them. And we're going to be sharing some of the most striking ones with you throughout this hour and next hour. But I do want to show them the graphics so they can see where to weigh in. You've got Tony's page right here. Take a look at it, CNN.com/Tony. There you go. Don't want everyone to miss that. And we're also doing Facebook and Twitter. Let's show everyone that screen so you know where to weigh in. Those are my pages, Facebook/JoshLevsCNN or Twitter/JoshLevsCNN. So, Tony, not only do we have hundreds coming in on the blog, but we've got more in every which way -- Facebook, Twitter. And this is really a conversation, a debate. People are listening to each other and exchanges ideas. That's how we like it.</s>HARRIS: Issues. Issues. The noise -- you know, in these two hours that we're responsible for, we're not interested in the noise.</s>LEVS: No. Conversation.</s>HARRIS: All right, Josh. Appreciate it. Thank you.</s>LEVS: Thanks.</s>HARRIS: Health care is on the agenda all day today and tonight with the presidential news conference. So here we go. Be sure to join CNN at 7:00 Eastern for "Moment of Truth: Countdown to Black in America 2." That is followed by live coverage of President Obama's news conference. It is set for 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific. Then immediately after the president, don't miss "Black in America 2." The first part of this two-night event begins at 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific, all right here on CNN.