alexander and finally tom coburn. senators who have spoken along this on this -- senator max baucus has logged eight hours and 20 minutes. senator charles grassley has logged seven hours, 52 minutes. senator dick durbin, 7 hours 53 minutes. host: linda in bethesda, maryland, you are opposed to the senate health care bill, why? caller: good morning. i apologize for my laryngitis. i feel that this bill will eventually kill of innovation in medical research in the united states once we go down this slippery slope. the government will pay for more and more. we already know that nih grants are down. doctors and people considering going to health care, the bright ones will not go in because all the market incentives will be gone very medical schools are very expensive and i see this as a slippery slope into a government run health care eventually because that is what legislation does once you get it done. host: what kind of health care do you have? caller: have healthcare with an employer. i am happy with it but under this

i am lamar alexander, and i am here to introduce haley barbour, the chairman of the republican governors association and governor of mississippi. we have three united states senators and former governors -- from new hampshire, neb., and iowa. i was one time governor of tennessee. while we do not yet know what is in the democratic health care bill, we know this much. it increases medicaid by 133%. what that means is we will have a huge bill of $25 billion over 10 years. the federal government says it will pick up the cost for three years, but after that, states are on their own and the bill is big. here is what governor schwarzenegger of california had to say about that expansion. he said "this is the last thing we need. $3 billion of spending when we already have $20 billion deficits. i would say be very careful to the federal government before you go to bed with all this. let's rethink it. there is no rush. let's take another week or two and come up with the right package." the governor from my state has called this "the mother of all unfunded mandates." this will cost $7 million or mor

also senators lamar alexander, john mccain, arlen specter and patty murray. >> madame present, we are going to finish this health care bill before we leave here for the holidays. for nearly an entire year we've reached out to the other side offering republicans a seat at the table, trying to negotiate in good faith, merely a whole would your. now we are closer than ever to fixing a badly broken system and doing more to make sure every american can afford to live a healthy life. republicans have made the point through obstruction manuals, missions they believe in stalling as good for a lot of politics, gamuts like the one we saw yesterday, that is forcing the full hours of reading of the amendment they didn't like and then complaining when the amendment they didn't like is withdrawn. they made their point to the american people. they've made it perfectly clear the have no interest in cooperating or relieve legislating. but the families and businesses that are suffering, hurting and dying every single day, have no time for these kinds of games. that's why we are going to finish health c

if we don't get behind these democratic representatives and senators, which i called both lamar alexander and bob corker from tennessee, i called all eight of my representatives as well and i try very hard to let them know this is very important. this is either going to turn our nation around or we are going downhill and there is no stopping us. we are going to be looking at our enemies and our enemies are going to be saying this nation is right for the picking and only because the morale of the people are devastated because we do not have leadership in our nation and we sure don't have the rights of our citizens. thank you very much and god bless america. host: 25 for watching. bethlehem, pennsylvania. caller: of socialism was taken out and therefore i am against it. maybe weÑi should start over oro reconciliation. when i studied history many years ago i recall in this constitution it says when there is a tie in the senate the vice president breaks the vote. what happened to that? those days don't count anymore, i guess. the other thing, it was the constitutional for george bush to give

i also added in here, at the suggestion of lamar alexander, that each of the d.c. voucher schools either have to be accredited or seeking accredit taismghts i don't think that's radical. i don't think it closes a pravment the final thing is the people that administer this program have to actually physically visit school, at least twice a year. we had a hearing where the administrator of this program was shown pictures of some of these d.c. vowrn schools and he said, we haven't been there it. maybe once a year we get by. it has to be more than that. we have to make sure that these schools are functioning and operating and we're sending millions of federal dollars into them. we expect it at public schools and charter schools. shouldn't we ask the same of d.c. voucher schools? and i'll say this: at least those in the archdiocese of washington have disagreed to these things and have said, for our catholic schools, we're ready to meet these standards and tests. my hat is off to thevment it is a challenge, i am a sure, but it is one that i think they will meet. i think t

i worked with lamar alexander on premature births, infant screening, a whole host of matters trying to provide resources and help for families that suffer these debilitating if not fatal problems that infants can suffer from and lose their lives from there's a vast difference from someone going through a problem that causes infant mortality rates. but this legislation takes a major step forward, mr. president, in taking the united states out of the basement when it comes to infant mortality and gets us back to the point where we are in the position we ought to be in reducing the tragedy that occurs with infant more at icy. so while there's a distinction clearly between abortion and infant mortality, the idea that we would abandon our efforts to include the quality of life for opportunities for children who arrive prematurely as many do in our country today, many don't survive the prematurity. women aren't getting the support they need during the pregnancy thus increasing the likelihood of premature births occurring or the screenings that occur immediately so you avoid the terrible prob