[Holmes:] Well, Senate negotiators get back to work on health care reform today. House lawmakers, they're gone. They're going home for their August recess. But the bipartisan group from the Senate Finance Committee still searching for a compromise. The panel says there won't be a vote before the Senate breaks for its August break. That's supposed to begin sometime at the end of this week. Well, you heard the term "Blue Dog Democrats" used a lot over the past few weeks. This group of fiscally conservative Democrats is critical in the debate over health care. CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, the host of CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," explains the Blue Dog tag.
[John King, Cnn Chief National Correspondent:] In the contentious health care debate of recent weeks, you've heard from voices familiar and some maybe not so familiar Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, Republican leaders in the House and Senate, and, of course, President Obama and his key advisers. But if you're listening closely, it's likely you've also heard the term "Blue Dog Democrats." Now, individually, most are not so influential. But together, their more conservative voices are proving pivotal in the debate over how to pay for health care changes and whether a new govern-run insurance program is such a good idea. So, what's a Blue Dog? Let's take a closer look. These are the states represented by at least one member in a congressional delegation who calls himself a Blue Dog. And you see them. And let's, again, take a peek in here. There are 52 members of the Blue Dog Coalition. They represent those 29 states we just showed you. Thirty-two of these members, and this is important, represent districts won by Republican John McCain in 2008. So in our "American Dispatch" this week, we wanted to take a closer look. Look out here, western Idaho, this blue congressional district, the first congressional district. We wanted to look up close at the blue dogs who have to balance the party's call for major health care reforms with a constituency that doesn't like big spending and doesn't trust big government.
[King:] Western Idaho is, in a word, spectacular. Rolling hills filled with golden grain. Breathtaking forest. Shimmering lakes. And tiny towns, like Saint Maries, built around the mines and mills and anchored by places where everyone is on a first- name basis and everyone thinks a business and the government should put a premium on the bottom line. GWEN WOTRING, OWNER, BUCK'S
[Drive In:] It's difficult to be a liberal in this neck of the woods.
[King:] Gwen Wotring is a proud Democrat, but she knows from the lively conversations in her restaurant, she's in the minority, especially in the recent debate over what to do about health care.
[Wotring:] I come from British parents. They taught me that socialized government is not a bad thing that everybody reports it to be. I think that the government needs to take over health care.
[King:] Saint Maries is in Benewah County, a timber region where John McCain won by a nearly two to one margin last November. Sheryl Halverson is the country Democratic chairwoman. Says what sells in New York or San Francisco will likely fall flat here.
[Sheryl Halverson:] We're westerners. And westerners are more independent. This is a hunting and fishing place. People don't want to give up their guns. And so we tend to be more self-reliant or think that everyone should be more fiscally conservative.
[King:] For only the third time in forty years, the local congressman is a Democrat, Walt Minnick, one of those who adds the word blue dog to his party affiliation.
[Wotring:] That means someone who thinks realistically and pragmatically about spending. I think the blue dog Democrats see their constituents more realistically than the real strong liberals.
[King:] To visit a place like this is to see the blue dog dilemma up close.
[Don Griesel, St Maries, Idaho:] You know, years ago I voted for Reagan, even though I thought he was too liberal.
[King:] Don Griesel applauds Minnick and fellow blue dogs for complaining the president's health care ideas cost to much and give government to much power, but he won't reward the Democrat with his vote because Griesel wants the House back in Republican hands.
[Griesel:] If he doesn't change his party, there's no way I can vote Democrat because like, right now, they have control of the House and all and that's what's killing America.
[King:] Across the table, psychologist and proud liberal Patricia Bauer has reservations of a different sort.
[Dr Patricia Bauer, St. Maries, Idaho:] I'm concerned about him being too conservative. I am happy that he's watching the numbers because I think we need to do that. But I'm concerned that fiscally responsible becomes a ney vote for health care.
[King:] University of Idaho Political Science Professor Bryan McQuide says it is an near impossible balancing act, blue dog label or not.
[Asst. Prof Bryan Mcquide, University Of Idaho:] The district is very Republican. Much of the district is solid red in terms of the blue and red American. Obama is going to be an issue, especially if there's more and more liberal proposals coming out.
[King:] Gwen Wotring disagrees when her congressman fights plan for a government health care option.
[Wotring:] I employ 25 people here, most of whom who don't have insurance.
[King:] Because you can't afford to give it to them?
[Wotring:] I can't afford to give it to them.
[King:] Disagrees, but Wotring understands the blue dog rationale.
[Wotring:] Loggers and fellows that work in the timber industry that are pretty right wing. And the way he thinks is pretty typical of most moderate, be it Republicans or Democrats, in this area. He needs to do that because that's what his constituents want.
[Holmes:] Well, blue dog Democrats criticize the president's health plan as too costly, which is why we've seen the White House and Democratic leadership meeting with the blue dog group. The Senate may follow the House today and refuel the auto rebate plan known as Cash for Clunkers. Christine, this thing is working and it's working well. It might be working to well. But if the Senate doesn't follow suit, is this plan about or is this whole program about to go away?
[Christine Romans, Cnn Correspondent:] That's if the Senate does not approve, T.J., another $2 billion, yes, the White House says this thing will be done by the middle of the week. And it has been much more popular than a lot of people thought. You know, when they were first, you know, putting the stimulus together, they thought about $4 billion for Cash for Clunkers. It got whittled down to one and that $1 billion in Cash fro Clunkers was eaten up in just really a few days. The auto industry telling us, frankly, that they had, in the last week of July, more sales of cars because of this than for the whole rest of the month of July. So more in one week, four or five days, than for the whole other month the rest of the month of July. And this is why because some people are able to go and get a car, buy a new car, trade in their old one and get more for it than it's even worth. Listen.
[Unidentified Male:] I traded in a car. Got $4,500 for a car I paid $4,000 for four years ago. It had 220,000 miles on it. So I think I made a great deal.
[Romans:] So here's how we know the stimulus is working. Ford is saying it's had the first increase in car sales in two years. I told you about all of those sales in the end of July, people are thinking the beginning of August is going to have an awful lot of car sales too. They'd like to see this keep going. The criticism, though, T.J., from some people is, you shouldn't have the government running the used car business. You'll hear about this, I'm sure, this afternoon in some of this debate from people around the Senate. Maybe people who don't want to vote for this. And also some people say the point of stimulus is not to cram three or four months of car demand into just a few weeks, but it's to generate new demand from somewhere. Some people are saying this isn't necessarily new demand, it's just people who have been on the sidelines waiting, waiting, waiting and then now they're going to sell their car. Whatever the reason, it is really boosting car sales.
[Holmes:] You know, what a deal. He paid $4,000 for a car and got $4,500 for it.
[Romans:] Yes.
[Holmes:] That's a pretty good deal.
[Romans:] And 220,000. God love you for driving your car that far, right? But the point is to get those big gas guzzlers, those not very efficient cars, off the roads. Get them off the roads and then that goes a little ways to our energy dependance issues and also well, it's just better for the environment. That's at least the goal of this whole thing.
[Holmes:] Well, it is working. So far so good. And maybe too well. Christine, thank you. We're talking about that guy's car there. His that he traded in and all of those others, what exactly happens to the ones that are left behind at the dealership? Well, we'll turn to cnnmoney.com's Poppy Harlow now. She has "The Breakdown" for us from New York. That's a lot of cars apparently people are turning in. We've got to do something with them. Where are they going?
[Poppy Harlow, Cnnmoney.com:] Yes, I mean, Christine made a great point, this isn't just sort of an economic stimulus plan of sorts. It's also a plan to get the worst polluting cars off the road. So here's what happens. The dealers that take your trade-in, they are forced to get rid of those gas guzzlers. They literally, T.J., have to destroy the engines. We visited a Nissan dealer right here in New York. They killed this 1996 Plymouth Voyager mini van. What they're doing there, they drain the oil, then they pour that mixture of water and sodium silicate, also known as liquid glass, if you've never heard of it, into the engine. You rev up the car. The solution hardens and in about seven minutes you can never drive that car again. So these clunkers will never be back on the road. And that's the goal. And that Voyager you saw, it's actually the first one that that service manager at the dealership had ever killed. Take a listen to what he said.
[Anthony Cacciola, Premium Nissan:] As a service manager, you never want to see them junk their old cars, you'd rather see them fix them. But as the sales end of it goes, it's going to be a huge success and, you know, can't wait to do another 100 of them.
[Harlow:] No, he can't wait because they get to trade them in and buy them new cars and that helps the dealership. Of course, an incredibly popular program. About $1 billion in funding. T.J., as we all know now, about exhausted in just about a week of the program.
[Holmes:] All right, you talk about that liquid glass there, I think you called it, they pour into the engine. That's the first thing they have to do, have to kill the engine, then what?
[Harlow:] Then they take it to a scrap yard. And first, look, the doors, the hood, anything you can use is stripped out. But, of course, the engine can't be stripped out. Then it's crushed, as you see right there. But some auto recyclers, they don't like this because the engine, T.J., is the most valuable part for them. About 60 percent of their sales for these recycled auto parts are generally the engines. But they can still sell the hood and the doors, anything else they strip from these clunkers. And I asked people on FaceBook, what do they think, are you trading in a clunker? What do you think of the program? And I want to bring you a comment here from Howard. He wrote in. I thought it was good. He said, "listen, this is a win-win situation." He said they should do it again in five years when the electric cars become more prevalent. So we'll see. It's working for now, that's for sure,
[T.j. Holmes:] It's working now. All right, Poppy Harlow for us today. Thank you so much. And the Cash for Clunkers, that is the top story on cnnmoney.com. You can check out cnnmoney.com for the latest financial news as well as analysis. We will turn to the fight in Afghanistan now. Is the country secure enough for elections? We'll go live to our correspondents on the ground to find out.