expected to face questions about stall negotiations. as well as talk about a tax on a luxury hotel in afghanistan. and the president got a vote of support on libya. good morning on this wednesday, june 29. we begin with getting your take on the latest proposal to cut medicare spending. bywill divide the online's aides this morning. -- divide up the telephone lines bypa age. we will also take your e-mails and tweets. senator lieberman of connecticut plan wouldurns's increase eligibility to 67 over 12 years. but the americans would pay 100% of premium costs for part b and part d. it would limit medigap coverage, for people to make wiser decision about their health care. and increased premiums from 25% to 35% of program costs. the two senators say that it would save approximately $600 billion over 10 years. transfers to under $50 billion in savings to medicare part a trust fund, doubling its size and iimproving its solvency. it would offer catastrophic medical coverage to protect against bankruptcy or massive debt due to help care. and it contains a three-year doc fix that is the reimbursement rate doctors get. they have a fix to that so the the reimbursement rate does not go down. that is paid for under their proposal. we want to get your take on that this morning. the phone lines are provided a little differently. we go to connecticut, lee. caller: they keep calling this an entitlement. i am 67. i pay social security and medicare taxes since i was 16. the problem is that ever since the carter administration any foreigner coming into this foreigner coming into this country lands and is over 65, they automatically get social security and medicare. host: get the stick to medicare and ask you this. let's show you what senator joseph lieberman had to say about medicare. its current structure right now. just listen through the phone. >> 50 million americans depend on medicare now. about 20 million more people will go on medicare during the next 10 years, mostly because of retiring baby boomers. each medicare beneficiary, each medicare enrollee will on the average stay, almost three times more out in medicare benefits than they contribute in payroll taxes and premiums. the number varies based on income and family structure, but that is basically what it is. about three times more out then you put in. that is why we say there's a status quo on medicare that is unsustainable. host: what is your reaction? you paid, but you're getting three times out more than what you paid. caller: supposedly, that money was supposed to go in the trust fund. if they would investigate properly, there would be more money. there's no money because congress keeps spending. there should be more money there, but there's not because in the 1990's after the fall of russia, tens of thousands of russians, landed at laguardia, they stepped off the airplane and got social security and medicare and never put a dime in. that is what is wrong with the system. you keep giving money away of the people who put it in there. congress has rated the money every year. it was supposed to be a trust fund. host: lawmakers say it is due to the amount of people that are in the system. caller: how come they have people put their money in 401k's? if they would have invested the money instead of robbing a, it would be there. host: what is the alternative? people say medicare is not sustainable on its current path. caller: the alternative is to with what the guy ryan suggested. host: john, age 70, on the line. caller: lawyers get on tv every day and say to sign up for your disability, social security, and medicare. these illegal aliens, there are over 1 million of them on social security disability and medicare. host: stick to what the word from the two senators. what you think about the plan? caller: like the other guy said, they stole all our money, the social security money and everything else. now they're going to work on medicare. my wife just turned 64. obamacare raised premium from $440 a year ago to $590 on the account of -- on account of obamacare. they need to get all these people off of it better not entitled to it and send them back to the doctor again. everytime you turn on the tv, there is a lawyer saying we will get your social security and medicare for you. host: you heard some of the sentiment toward medicare in the first two phone calls. here is a headline about the plan that top democrats rejected. host: don is 49 years old in spring, texas. caller: you look at what's going on in greece , the college austerity measures, whatever you want to do. this all started with the banks cooking the books. cooking the books. goldman sachs did that increas greece. now they're trying to privatize everything. just like the republicans and some democrats, like obama. i made 100 phone calls for obama. i felt like he was going to be all right. but he turned out to know better than the republicans. host: a little bit more from the washington post. host: bob is 70 years old , and joining us from massachusetts. caller: good morning. coburn was on charlie rose last night and he brought up the fact night and he brought up the fact that so much money goes into medicare and so much money comes out. a lot more money comes out and goes in. where does that money go? it does not disappear. that money, the doctors get paid, the hospitals get paid, medical supply places get paid. the money stays in the economy. where does that money go? it states in the economy. i don't have the money. i go to the doctor and have to pay a bill to medicare. i don't know where the money goes. host: you would like to see for doctors to not be as much? you want tampa to have more skin in the game -- you want them to have more skin in the game? caller: i had a doctor who performed surgery very well with lots of nice people working there. seems like medicare is supporting dole industry. what's wrong with that? host: because there's a large demand there, they would have to respect that -- doctors? caller: i do and the government should, because it's a big part of the economy. host: do you have difficulty finding a doctor because you are on medicare? caller: no, i live and an area where there are a lot of older people and we are a big part of the economy in this community. host: we are talking about a new proposal, the latest to cut medicare spending, set for yesterday senator lieberman and senator cockburn. -- coburn. .ere's a front-page story gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in afghanistan. what happened? guest: it looks like it was nine insurgents from the taliban, several of them wearing suicide bus, who attacked the hotel -- suicide veests. roof.of them or on the grow they were indiscriminately killing hotel desks. they only were able to find one foreigner to appeal. it took the police over five force to subdue them. host: who has taken responsibility for the attack? guest: the taliban spokesman has taken response ability. but the attack caras' a hallmarks of something carried out by the all connie network -- al qani network. host: why is this so tell significant? is the biggest old hotel in kabul. it was the only place foreigners could stay. there are newer hotels now. it is owned by the government and is extremely heavily guarded. it is on an ill -- on a hill. it is a place that appears to be in very well secured. host: how were they able to get in and? guest: they are still sorting out the details. the accounts we're getting so far, almost everybody is commented on what a poor job afghan police did. in some cases and really several cases they have fled when the first attack broke out. there's always been a problem with adequate training for the afghan police. they are very poorly paid. although and underpay has improved very much in the last year or two, they still earned on the order of $200 per month. they did not do a very credible job. host: what are the implications of that, given the debate in washington over withdrawing troops and handing over security to afghan soldiers? guest: today was the beginning of a two-day conference on transitioning of security -- of control of security from nato to the afghan government. they are beginning with seven places around the country which will be completely under afghan control. one of those places is kabul, the capital. not only did they equip themselves very poorly in this test, which will clearly timed by the taliban to embarrass them again beginning of transition, but in the end they had to call on nato to help kill last of the terrorists on the roof. host: the two-day conference discussing this very fact, what did you hear in response from the pope karzai government -- the karzai government? guest: he says this will not affect the transition. they are saying that their forces handled the crisis very quickly and effectively. quickly and effectively. the standoff lasting 5.5 hours is nothing anybody can brag about. who will you be hearing from and looking for in the always going forward? always going forward? guest: we will talk to witnesses and talk to people involved in the transition process to see if there's any feeling that this is something that maybe should be delayed. a lot of people are saying that, although the officials involved in this are very committed to it. that's on the afghan government side and on the nato side. host: who says this should be delayed? guest: many prominent individuals. people like provincial council members and members of parliament and so on. host: rod nordland joining us in afghanistan to talk about this deadline. gunman storm and a luxury motel. thanks for your time. andy is 55. we're talking about the latest proposal from two bipartisan members of congress to cut medicare spending. caller: good morning. thanks for c-span. it is pretty obvious that medicare has to be changed. i pick a lot of the things in are going to be necessary -- i think. the change from 65 to 67 over 12 years, i am 55 and i know my number of health issues is increasing. as an employer who will not be providing me medical benefits of an age 65. a lot of americans will be put into a position if they make that change to not have held insurance when they need it. i'm very concerned with that particular provision. it's not fair. and that is a nonstarter for me. host: listening to you, some people might say it's only two years and its overall 12 years that they are raising import. -- raising it? caller: i bargain contracts. it says when we retire, our employer will provide us some formal medical benefits up to age 65. i am sure there are thousands and maybe tens of thousands of contracts out there right now in america that are written in such a way that this provision is there. every single one of those contracts would be changed or people would have to work longer. the cost would be transferred to those workers or to the employers providing gap coverage. frankly, you are young. you don't really think about what it feels like to wake up at 55, because you are not there. what it feels like to wake up at 60. it's a lot harder to get up and work and a lot of the things. the older you get, the more challenging its debts. asking people to work a lot longer at that age is something that is unreasonable. i have plenty of money. idea i upset by the should contribute more to medicare. host: i am still listening. caller: i'm not upset by the idea that will be people should have to pay more clear that i would have to contribute more to my own medical coverage later in life. but being pushed up to age 67 will cause a lot of americans a lot of issues and cause a lot of problems for our country. i think that part is something they should not do. host: are you a union worker? caller: i am president of the teachers association. i am a teacher. host: scott is 45 in wisconsin. caller: good morning. has so farnk anyone -- host: a lot of people say something has to be done about medicare although they are opposed to this particular plan. caller: it was a bad idea in the beginning. the entitlement part, i don't understand how they consider its entitlement when we all paid into it. i wish i could do the math of how many people before they receive their benefit and the amount of money that they get. host: were you listening at the this discussionning of where joseph lieberman said it was unsustainable because almost all the enrollees' take almost three times more out in benefits than they have contributed in payroll taxes and premiums? caller: that is not going to help if you raise gauge -- ra ise the age. it will give them more money. a piece by john goodman. it was on townhall.com. host: jim is 79 minutes south carolina. caller: good morning. keeping a person my age on the phone so long. what i want to say is i live in a rather poor senior housing area. i would not expect those over 65 or 70 who are retired to be affected by whatever legislation is put into place. that is my only comment. host: here is a tweet. host: you can send us a tweet or send us an e-mail. here's one by dolores. host: bob is 53, from new york. caller: thank you for c-span. this caller has stolen my thunder. there's a counter argument that is not being made. we heard repeatedly that people take three times more out of medicare than they pay in premiums. the counter argument is that medicare should be opened up to consumers. i know that it is a pipe dream and that it is politically probably more unseasonable than anything you can think of. these members of congress don't have the courage to do the right thing or even really talk about what is the right thing. the right thing -- let me use myself as an example. i pay $500 a month to my employer. $6,000 per year for my health insurance. i use under $500 per year. i take out of my concern that. 80% of americans with health concerns like myself do not really use it. think of the amount, the enormous sums of money, medicare could raise. i don't hear this as part of the argument by these senators. host: so, a single payer system? caller: maybe you could call it that. i don't want to free people out. -- freak people out. a friend of mine put her father on medicare and he loves it. health concerns operates at 17%. the amount of money that could be raised by people like myself if i could buy into medicare tax instead of my employer, those sums of money would be enormous. i don't know why it's not part of the debate. i wish you would ask future people on your program that know more about these things, put it to them, make these people respond instead of just letting it fall to the wayside. opening up medicare, raising funds, people like me will gladly pay intuit. host: that's the beauty of this program, that people like you get to call in and challenge our guests directly. president obama will now the news conference at 11:30 a.m., live coverage on c-span. he is likely to be asked about the stalled gatt negotiations, medicare could be part of that discussion. he will also likely be asked about and possibly the attack in kabul, afghanistan last night. this is what the senator tom coburns had to say. >> medicare is the biggest cost long term. if we don't go after the biggest first and try to make sensible reforms, if nobody is going to like this plan. we understand that. but nobody wants the present medicare and those absolutely dependent on it not to have anything. a trust fundt part bellies up in 2016, what's going to happen? are we going to fix it then? how much more painful would it be done if we don't make small adjustments now? host: talking about the new proposal by, the two senators to cut medicare spending. i want to show you some other deadlines. there's this story. $8.5 billion deal. host: and this story. host: and a side story about tim pawlenty. he gave a speech and he said america already has one party devoted to decline, retrenchment, and withdraw. that was in new york. now to massachusetts, millie is 77. you are on the air. caller: this is actually tony from tampa, florida, 44 years old. i don't feel medicare is truly transparent. we want companies and other industries to be transparent. and clearly show and say what they mean, whatever their business rules are. i just don't feel this medicare is really transparent. all the control is taken from the doctors, given to the insurance companies. some say a lot of people did not contributed to the medicare because of their type of employment, what they're getting out of it, it's ludicrous. what they receive is -- to say now that they receive more than what they put in, i don't agree. just as the last caller said, i contributed a lot more into my medical coverage with my employer, much more than i received, because i was not at a time in my life that i needed constant care. so when i get at that age, does that mean i should be in the same boats when i have to have medicare take over, after contribute so much because i need that system, if i did not already contributed money, would they be dead to me like that? there are too many rules with the medicare system and not being transparent. a lot of our seniors are not receiving the care they should. they're living check to check. they are paying so much money for medication. pay don't have the funds to for this stuff. so should they not receive the care? host: if you want to go to the news conference with the two senators that recovered yesterday, go to our web site, c-span.org. the senators were asked about the proposal, not including anything that would allow medicare to negotiates with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices. they responded by saying that it's a nonstarter because they need bipartisan support for something like this and there's too much objection to having that type of proposal in there. now to millie in massachusetts, age 77. caller: medicare part d, the republicans or refuse to let medicare brought in for drug prices. they get too much money from the pharmaceuticals. that would save billions of dollars alone. the president ought to bring this up in his bully pulpit. this is ridiculous that they have to take whatever price the pharmaceuticals say. they sell the same drugs in canada and overseas much cheaper than they do to americans. these are the same companies. they have no leverage. that would put in -- and the only way this was an all- republican votes when they passed medicare part d, that was put in with a stipulation that they cannot bargain for prices, which is ridiculous. host: back to libya for a moment. host: and in international news -- host: then you have heard the news of a new imf chief. this is a full-page ad put out in "the washington post." congratulations to christine lagarde, it says. michigan, terry, 46 years old. caller: thank you for c-span. i listen all the time. it's very educational. i have started the paul ryan plan and it is ridiculous. plan and it is ridiculous. it puts about $270,000 in profits in paul ryan's pockets, if you really look at the plant. now there's this plan by a joseph lieberman and tom coburn, raising age limits, it's ridiculous. i'm asking our president, please keep the republicans away from my medicare and my social security. host: you don't think there should be any cuts to medicare? caller: no, there should not be. if you look at where the current money is going, you look at all the profits of stimulating on wall street, these guys making $500 million a year, they don't want to be taxed, they don't want anything to do whips getting us on the right road. we have models in france and italy and canada. they cost half as much as what we are talking about in medicare. half as much and better care. host: the baby boomer line is 847-65. you are 46 years old. -- the baby boomer line is 47- 65. with baby boomers beginning to retire now, they say it's not sustainable. caller: that's not true. a lot of us die before we get to the age they are talking about. so what are we talki