Major Health Care Bill Passes
BROWN: Every single American would be affected if the Senate Finance Committee's $829 billion health reform bill actually becomes law. Here are just some of the facts for you. Nearly all Americans would have to get coverage. Most of the uninsured would get their benefits through Medicaid or new state-run insurance options. Insurance companies would no longer be allowed to deny coverage based on preexisting conditions. Now, as even the president acknowledged, this is just one step on a long road ahead. So, tonight's big question: Has the fight over health care only just begun? And here now to talk about that is CNN political analyst Roland Martin, Republican strategist Kevin Madden, and CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley joining us tonight. Candy, we just said it, a significant step certainly, but plenty to do, plenty of heavy lifting ahead. And the president acknowledged as much today.</s>CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: He absolutely did. And, listen, all of those things that got thrown out of the proposal that was before the Baucus committee are now back in play. I mean, this is how this works up there. Nancy Pelosi is over on the House side looking at three bills, trying to figure out what the one bill is going to be. Tomorrow, in the Senate, they're looking at two bills, trying to figure out what their one bill is going to be. We're many, many steps -- I hear people saying don't make any plans for New Year's Eve. I think they will get this done.</s>CROWLEY: I hope it's not New Year's Eve -- hint, hint -- but the fact of the matter is, everything really does come back in play. But here I think you have got the parameters today. The bottom line is that the Baucus bill that just came out today is the least of what will happen. The most of what will happen will be whatever comes out of the House side. So, those are the bargaining parameters, and they will try to find that sweet spot in the middle.</s>BROWN: And these are pretty extreme perimeters, though, within the Democratic Party, aren't they, Roland?</s>ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Right. Well, absolutely, because already you have unions coming out saying that it doesn't have a public option and more importantly they don't like the tax on so- called Cadillac plans. So, that's one of the issues. The public option is the other issue. What you also have is frankly this whole issue, is it going to be a trigger? When will it kick in? Also, this Baucus plan, $829 billion, the CBO really says $774 billion. The House plan could be as high as a trillion. How do you reconcile the money in between? And so a lot to go on here, but expect progressives to be a lot more aggressive, because they understand with only one Republican voting for this out of committee, they're saying, why give everything up? The Republicans are all going vote for -- against it anyway.</s>BROWN: Against it anyway.</s>MARTIN: That's going to be a huge fight right there.</s>BROWN: Kevin, are all Republicans going to vote for it? Do you think any moderate -- more moderate Republicans beyond Olympia Snowe might get on board?</s>KEVIN MADDEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think, to Candy's point, there's still a lot of work to be done yet. And we still don't know what the final bill is going to look like. I suspect that if you have a bill that's around $800 billion coming out of a -- of some sort conference agreement, that you may get a few more moderates. But I think that the problem here with this process for many Republicans is that the $800 billion passed by the Senate Finance today is only -- represents the floor. And you heard this in the "Mash-Up" that you put together earlier. Cost, cost, cost, that is what is driving Republican anxiety on this and I also think that is what's driving the American public's anxiety.</s>BROWN: But, Kevin, what's the Republican role here? Frankly, they don't need you. They have made that abundantly clear. So, what are Republicans going to be doing, just sort of hammering away at the cost issue, but without having a great deal of influence, seemingly?</s>MADDEN: Well, look, this offers Republicans a chance to align themselves with a lot of middle-class anxieties when it comes to what Democrats and the administration are doing here in Washington. You are seeing a lot of spending, not just on health care. And that's starting to worry people, because they're putting it all into one big bucket. They're conflating a lot of the costs and the spending coming out of Washington. So, Republicans are going to try and align themselves with that. They're going to criticize it based upon the principles of too much taxing and not enough reform and too much spending and not enough reform. So it does create an opportunity. And the reality is that there's very little we can do to really shape the process, because this is a bill that's now going in to Majority Leader Harry Reid's office to be shaped without any Republican input.</s>BROWN: So, how significant, though -- let me ask Candy -- was Olympia Snowe's vote today? At all really? They're calling it a bipartisan bill.</s>CROWLEY: Well, they can call it anything they want. And the Republicans will, too. In the end, I'm going to go with Roland and say it is true that progressives are going to be much more aggressive now. They're going to look and say, oh, we don't need Republicans. But they knew that from the beginning, because the problem here isn't Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins.</s>MADDEN: That's right.</s>CROWLEY: And I think they will pick up Republicans. The problem is the conservative Democrats.</s>MADDEN: That's right.</s>CROWLEY: And, again, if they stray too far from that sweet spot, you move this -- you move the Baucus bill, Senator Baucus' committee, the sort of bottom -- the floor of what is going to happen by the end of the year, if you move that too far to the left, you are going to lose conservatives. And if you take the Chris Dodd or the Nancy Pelosi bill on the left side and you move that too far to the right, you're going to lose progressives. So, this is not about the Republicans. I think that you will see some of the conservative Democrats on the Senate side looking at Olympia Snowe. Maybe this gives them a little more leeway to go with the Senate bill. But what they're worried about is not the Republicans. They don't need their numbers. They need the conservative Democrats. And that's the problem.</s>BROWN: And...</s>MARTIN: Hopefully, the American people, Campbell, will just -- not just watch this conversation, will go to CNN.com, get the facts, and then say, I need to call my member of Congress and say, this is how I feel, because that is who it's going to affect, not the lobbyists, not just the insurance companies, but the average person sitting at home.</s>BROWN: Right. Roland Martin, Kevin Madden, and Candy Crowley, as always, thanks, guys.</s>MADDEN: Great to be with you.</s>BROWN: Millionaire swindler Bernie Madoff gets into a prison beef -- that coming up in tonight's download. Plus, learn how to rewire your brain, new research that can help everyone, from patients with brain damage to students with learning disabilities. It's our special series, "The Brain That Heals Itself," when we come back.