your money, ali velshi is off this week. in the next hour, we're following your tax dollars, exactly where the $787 billion in stimulus money is being spent. plus, we'll find out if the surging stock market is a mir e mirage. first, we begin with the president's battle to reform health care. he made his case before the american people this week. >> if we do not reform health care, your premiums and out of pocket costs will continue to skyrocket. if we don't act, 14,000 americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day. these are the consequences of inaction. these are the stakes of the debate we're having right now. >> how will he pay for the massive overhaul? where are the details? former new york mayor and republican presidential candidate rudy giuliani insists americans were left with more questions than answers. >> the cost of health care is going to go up over the next 5 to 10 years. when you add the trillions of dollars that he's spending, inflation alone is going to drive it up. i think that's why even democrats, so many democrats that don't support this. he's not telling the american people really how it's -- how it's going to operate. they left the press conference last night with more questions than they had before. >> so, did the president succeed in making the case for health care reform? let's pose that question to jamal simmons, democratic strategist with the raven group, and steven moore, editorial writer for the "wall street journal." jamal, let me start with you, did he sell you on the need and the urgency for this plan? >> well, you know, i was sold before he started talking. let's just be serious. >> the president had you at hello, didn't he? >> he had me at hello. i do think he did a good job. one of the reasons people voted for barack obama and the reason why his poll ratings stay above 50% to 55% because they trust him and think he's smart. and the one thing he did do at that press conference, he showed off his brain and sort of established he's still the person who is speaking straight to the american people on this issue. rudy giuliani just said that costs are going to go up under the plan. costs are going to go up anyway. right now we're spending about $2.5 trillion on health care, that's going to go to $7 trillion in 2025 if we do nothing at all. the president wants to get this done to try to save some of that money and get it out of americans pockets. >> the president had an unscripted remark that was interesting, if you want a plan that's going to guarantee more people uninsured, guarantee higher costs, guarantee more suffering for people and not necessarily better care, we've got that plan, it's the status quo. >> yeah, christine, i think the problem the president has right now, though, is that despite what jamal just said, the public opinion polling shows a continued decline in support for this plan. it's as if, you know, the more americans get to know what's actually in the bill, and by the way, this is a 1,200 page bill so a lot of us still don't know, but the more we kind of start to glean what's in it, support erodes. and the way they pay for this trillion dollar bill is mostly on the backs of small businesses, and my line on this is if we pass this bill, everybody's going to have health care, but nobody's going to have a job. >> well, that's interesting. i want to listen to something else the president said in that press conference. talking a little bit about the politics, he's talking about the politics on the other side of the aisle, listen to this. >> i've heard the one republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to compromise, it's better politics to go for the kill. another republican senator defeating health care reform is about breaking the mean. let me be clear, this isn't about me. i have great health insurance, and so does every member of congress. >> what's the problem here, the problem here road blocks or opposition from the republicans? or the problem here is he's getting pushed back by his own party and what kind of time line there'll be to get this thing done? >> you know, health care isn't just for democrats, it's going to be for republicans also. there are 14,000 americans who lose their health care every single day, and some of those people are democrats, some are republicans. the republicans have a responsibility to get in the game and try to figure out how to help solve this problem just as much as the democrats. of course, the president has to convince democrats to go along with it, but it shouldn't be just a one-party bill, this should be a bipartisan piece of legislation and frankly it's a little discouraging that republicans would rather play politics and disable a president when we have this big crisis than to figure out how to fix a problem. >> sounds to me like everyone's playing politics here. this is a big, huge, undertaking with a lot of different constituencies who have different viewpoints on how it should be done. >> yeah, look, i'm all for bipartisanship, i think this there is a bipartisan solution to this, jamal, but this is being handled exactly, christine, like the stimulus bill was done and cap and trade bill, democrats only, republicans out of the process, none of the republican ideas are in this bill, and that's, i think, the reason it's become so, republicans say we're not at the table, why would we vote for this? there are ways of doing this that i would, i think, insure the people who don't have insurance, but you don't have to screw up the entire health care system for people -- look, christine, most people have health care, which is the vast majority of americans like they have right now and very nervous about losing it. >> well, go ahead, jamal. >> according to the president's plan, what they want to do is maintain people's quality to maintain -- and maybe even improve quality, keep costs down, and allow people to have choice and keep their own plans if they want it. now, you just said that republicans didn't have a chance to participate in this bill, the president mentioned the other night, one of the bills moving through congress had 160 amendments from republicans that had been considered, so you can't -- >> they've been considered, but they've all been voted down by the democratic congress. >> well, maybe they were bad ideas. maybe they were bad ideas, that doesn't mean they don't have a chance to participate in the process. they certainly do. >> but you know, christine, at this point, we're coming sort of the fourth inning of this, it's not going to happen, you know, before the august recess, they're going to go back and i think democrats are going to have to get this done and i do think there will be a bill this year, but i think it has to move more to the center and it cannot put all of the costs on small businesses because small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and it has to be a system that also constrains costs, and jamal, i agree with you, we have to do it, but i don't think this bill -- look, for example, there's no medical malpractice insurance reform and a 1,200 page bill and everyone knows that's a good way to control health care costs. >> all right, and health care costs is something that we still continue to worry about and talk about how it would be effected here, and there's a feeling we haven't gotten control over that either. steven moore, "wall street journal," jamal simmons, thank you so much for joining us and we'll be talking about this again. i can guarantee it. have a great weekend. the debate over health care reform happening all over the country, probably even at your dinner table, what exactly is everyone arguing about? here's what's at stake. projections estimate that by next year, 164 million of you will get your health insurance from work, through your job, 81 million from medicare or medicaid, 14 million of you will buy insurance on your own, and 49 million and counting won't have coverage. the democrats want to cover the uninsured, but also preserve the employer-based health care system. now, the exact plan, the details still influx, but we're going to break it down what we know, how it will -- how we're going to explain how it could effect your doctor visit and your monthly budget. cnnmoney.com is here. if you get it through your job, through work, not a lot is going to change for you in the very beginning if this happens. >> near-term and long-term. in the near-term, premiums are not expected to go down measurably. unlikely your employer's going to drop you into the public exchange, a national insurance exchange supermarket. what could happen, though, within five years all insurance plans, those from employers, those on the exchange will have to conform to certain regulations. what you'll hear president obama said this week, nancy pelosi said this week, you will have your out of pocket costs annually capped. you will have the cap on lifetime benefits from a plan removed. you will be guaranteed coverage for preexisting conditions. that could help somebody with employer-sponsored insurance today because it means a couple of things. within five years and really we're talking 2018 because this won't get underway until 2013, you might see a reduction in your out of pocket costs if that cap soon applies. you also might be freer to leave your job because right now if you leave your job, you're like, oh, how am i going to get insured? now you know there are going to be some options out there for you. >> and this is most people at this point, most people still have their coverage through their job. you could be required to pay a tax, you don't have to pay tax on this benefit right now that you get in your job, that could be on the table. >> couple of different things on that. we don't know what the pay fors are going to be. the house has a surtax on the wealthy. couples making $350,000 or more, nancy pelosi wants to push it up to $500,000, we don't know what's going to happen there. the senate finance committee has yet to put out its proposals. the leading idea had been to tax your benefits at work, which are currently tax-free, the portion your employer pays, don't know what's going to happen there. and now there's a competing idea coming out to tax insurance companies and employers who provide these cadillac plans, but that could get passed down to you by way of costs. >> of course. >> who knows. >> let's talk about the people who buy their own insurance, what does it mean for people, the democrats' health care proposals for people who buy -- >> in the near term, it could be a benefit for them, because it's expensive to buy on your own individual market. those folks will be immediately eligible to go into the exchange when it opens and the idea of the exchange is you have a lot of different plans competing with each other for your business. so -- and also very low income, they can qualify for a subsidy. on the subsidy that your income takes you to 400% poverty level. that's another potential -- >> let's talk about the people who don't have insurance, the 49 million for next year, they get the most out of all of this. >> there's going to be a mandate to buy insurance, they will have that. they will be subsidized to buy it, they will have more choice in plans than they do now, they will have all of those protections that will immediately apply to plans in the exchange, you know, guaranteed coverage if you have a preexisting condition, they can't toss you out of the plan if you get sick, that kind of thing. >> all of this still influx, of course, and two tracks, what your health care's going to look like and also how we're going to pay for it. so two different kinds of -- very complicated and political discussions going on. thanks so much. the federal government's paying $5 million for turkey meat. on the surface looks silly, we'll tell you what it's all about. find out what uncle sam's doing with your stimulus pollen. all d. and it's not a steroid. help mereatetterl day long. an's noa ster unceit keepsrways open. help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe 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you're spending money for. $ $9,435. these chairs usually retail about $1,100 apiece, going for office equipment at the department of labor. wisconsin, here is one project, almost $200,000 for a bathroom remodel and door replacement. four bathrooms for a service office space. the company saying it's been able to avoid laying off employees, they have 20 people working full-time on this $200,000 project. next door in minnesota, this one really caught our eye. look at this, $5.3 million for jennie-o turkey, part of $00 million in emergency food aid that's meant to combat the recession right now. a lot more food including pork and mozzarella 800,000 pounds of mozzarella all being paid for with your tax dollars going to soup kitchens. here's the biggest single contract on here. look at this. it is in washington state more than $1 billion for clean-up of a nuclear waste site. the department of energy says this contract is putting 832 people to work. that is a snapshot of your stimulus money at work. is this how your stimulus dollars should be spent? is this a good use of your money? these are just a few examples. republican congressman john campbell of california and democrat robert andrews of new jersey join us from washington. thanks for joining us, gentlemen. let me ask you first, in new jersey, what kind of contracts are you seeing doing there? are they going to create jobs and is it good for your state? >> i think it is good. there's a highway that runs through my state, a lot of bridges need repair and people are working today on that project. i think it's going to solve some major traffic problems and create some good jobs. so i think it's what we should be doing. >> let me ask you about -- i guess some of the blowback for some of these projects. when you go looking through the recovery.gov website and see some of these projects, $9,000 for office chairs, whether this should have been regular prop e appropriations, why is this stimulus? you can see a lot of contracts that haven't gotten up to speed yet. is this stimulating all of these projects? or do some stimulate more than others? >> no, i don't think it is stimulating. and most of this, as you just suggested in my view should've gone through the regular appropriations process. many of these things for bureaucracy, and that's great, we can discuss whether we should be spending money on that stuff or not, but to say that it stimulated the economy because it's just not because there's no multiplier effect. what would have been stimulative is only 3% of this was infrastructure type projects, only 3% of the spending. and more of it been that, when you build a road or create wireless internet or put in a bridge, then you create additional jobs than just building that because the private sector uses that infrastructure to create more jobs and that's what we should have been doing, but this so-called stimulus didn't do that, and in my opinion is actually going to harm the economy because all of the borrowing we're having to do to pay for it. >> congressman andrews, let me ask you about the infrastructure part of this. there are democrats too and progressive and left leaning economist who is say we need another stimulus. would you use that argument to say we need even more stimulus and we should do a big infrastructure package? >> i don't think we should do a second one, i think we should give this one a chance to work and put people to work. you know, there's money that's not yet been spent because we want to spend it carefully. i hate to hear these examples about the expensive office chairs and all of that, that's not supposed to happen. and it's our responsibility to make sure it does not happen -- >> those chairs retail for $1,100 and looks to me that the government got them for $400, they got them cheaper than retail. >> well, we should do better than that. and let me say this to you, there's money, for example, to try to make the grid smarter, so if someone builds a windmill, they can get the electrical power from the windmill site to the utility company, that's money that's going to make sense. people going to close on buying a home this week that are going to get an $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit that's helping to bring back the residential real estate market. and i think that what you'll begin to see is over time, not soon enough as far as i'm concerned, you will see over time more people go back to work, more companies prosper, and more opportunities for the american people. i think it's going to work. >> congressman campbell, let me ask you about waste. there's been a lot of concern about the size of this project. we have never undertaken something like this before. we know that there's government waste in all kinds of different areas. are you concerned at all about that? >> yes, there's no way, this is almost $1 trillion, and remember, that you hear from the white house and the administration and so forth, we've got to get this out really quick so it stimulat