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American Morning

Senate Passes Health Care Bill; From Church to Capitol Hill; Celebrities Who Give; Healthcare Reform Effects

Aired December 24, 2009 - 07:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. Merry Christmas Eve, I guess.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, indeed.

COSTELLO: It's a historic Christmas Eve on Capitol Hill, senators coming in for an early rare Christmas Eve vote on an enormous health care reform measure that passed 60 to 39 strictly on party lines.

Hello everyone. I'm Carol Costello, in for Kiran Chetry.

MARCIANO: And I'm Rob Marciano, in for John Roberts. It's December 24th. As Carol mentioned, it's Christmas Eve, and happy holidays!

COSTELLO: Santa's getting ready.

But right now, let's talk about what happened in the Senate. Jessica Yellin is live on Capitol Hill right now. And, Jessica, before you begin, you told us about this moment in the Senate chambers when the Majority Leader, Senator Harry Reid was going to vote for this bill he has been fighting for and he inadvertently voted "No." Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rhode Island.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Aye.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Reid in (ph) Nevada?

MARCIANO (voice-over): He needs a nap.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Reid of Nevada, aye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: One of them to (ph) go ahead and -- and give his vote for "aye." He voted yes for the bill, but this shows just how exhausted and frustrated Senate members are this morning and have been through this whole process. Jessica, give us the play by play.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I tell you, I think the Senate Majority Leader is even entitled to a brain freeze once in a while. He just don't want it to happen right then.

These folks have been working nonstop on this, not just for the last three weeks of continuous debate when there have been 800 speeches about this health care reform bill alone, but going all the way back to August. So there's an enormous sense of exhaustion and relief.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: ... been working nonstop on this. Not just for the last three weeks of continuous debate when there have been 800 speeches about this health care reform bill alone, but going all the way back to August. So, there's an enormous sense of exhaustion and relief on both sides that they can just get out of the building.

In fact, after the two votes, there are two votes this morning on another issue, the second vote, you could see senators leaving the building, dragging their suitcases behind them because some of them are high-tailing it straight out to the airport to get home for Christmas Eve celebrations. But before they did all that, plenty of members were celebrating on the Democratic side.

Our senior producer Ted Barrett was down at the Senate level and saw the man who's now taking Ted Kennedy's seat, Senator Ted Kennedy, as you know, made health care his number one issue during his life. He had tears in his eyes and he said that Kennedy smiling in heaven right now. There is hugging and cheering around Vicki Kennedy, the widow of Senator Ted Kennedy, a lot of excitement there.

The woman who runs the White House health care effort was present, Nancy Ann DeParle, was present. So, a lot of -- and then, of course, the vice president -- a lot of momentous exhausted relief on the Democratic side.

And, as you point out, a determination to continue fighting by the Republicans -- we can talk a little bit about what everybody said in the press conferences, but, you know, this is far from over.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is far from over. In fact, Senator Mitch McConnell the Republican from Kentucky made that very clear. He said, the fight has just begun, don't think it's over yet, because Republicans have a lot of problems with this bill.

YELLIN: That's right. And I thought in the -- there was a press conference we all showed just a moment ago of all the senators -- Democratic senator whose taken a led on this. What I thought was the most noteworthy comment was Senator Chuck Schumer's statement, Schumer from New York, saying, responding to McConnell and saying, "You know, he thinks we're going to go home and hear from our constituents saying they're unhappy with the bill. He said I think that the tide has turned and that people now be relieved and on board and want to hear what's in for them.

(CROSSTALK)

YELLIN: So, a big mess...

COSTELLO: I was just going to say, that's going to take a big education effort because polls show that Americans really aren't all that hip to this bill.

YELLIN: Right. And so, I'm just telling you what the White House will say and what the Democrats say. But, really, the White House, their view is that -- that's a lot of discontent with the process. It's become so unwieldy and so big and confusing. They're convinced that as people learn more about the details, support will build. And so, the big challenge is: to tell people about what's going to happen right away.

So here, let me just give you some examples of some of the things that are in this Senate bill that would kick in instantly if it were to be passed. Immediately, there will be new rules that say any child with a pre-existing condition cannot be denied insurance, for example. There would be a massive trust fund -- a fund I should call it -- set up to help people who cannot afford insurance get insurance right away. There will be new reforms saying insurance can't kick you -- deny you a service just because it's going to be expensive.

There's a long list of funding for community center, funding for medical school for doctors that would -- all of this would go into effect immediately in the first year out after this bill, if it were passed. And that's the kind of stuff these senators need to go home and try to sell.

The caveat that obviously the bill that passed today ain't going to be the final version, so it's still a little complicated.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: And, you know, if they -- if they go home and sell it in the form of a town hall meeting, we all know what happened last go-round. So, that certainly could -- that could be interesting as well.

COSTELLO: Oh, that could be good political drama as it was the last time.

MARCIANO: All right. Jessica Yellin...

YELLIN: They look a little too tired for more town hall meetings, don't you think?

COSTELLO: Yes, they do. Especially Harry Reid. Thanks, Jessica.

YELLIN: Thanks.

MARCIANO: Well, Jessica touched on as far as, you know, what you may be getting for your $800 billion. But we got to talk to Sanjay about more details on that.

COSTELLO: Yes, he knows.

I know you've read all 2,000 pages of this Senate bill. What's in it for us? What we are getting for our tax dollars? What may we get if, of course, what's in the Senate bill passes in the final version?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, can I tell you this? First of all, I think my next segment is going to be about sleep deprivation in the Senate and what that does to people.

MARCIANO: And for you.

GUPTA: Pretty remarkable moment -- and for us as well.

What do we get for this? You know, when this starts to get reconciled between the House and the Senate, this is going to be a dramatically different thing -- as Jessica was alluding to -- and I think a lot of those fights are really going to be among Democrats even more so than between Democrats and Republicans. That's one -- one sort of broad brush stroke, one way to think about this.

The biggest things I think that people do seem to agree on, are probably going to end up in the final version of whatever is passed if something is passed, is this idea that you can't discriminate against people for some sort of preexisting condition and that you don't have caps on people's lifetime medical expenses and we're going to insure a lot more people, tens of millions more. They say up to 31 million more people.

You know, there's been a lot of studies done sort of looking at what is the impact of simply having more people insured? Could it create a healthier nation? Are people more likely to not get preventable diseases and are they more likely to recover or be adequately treated for chronic diseases, especially like cancer? There's a lot of studies that say yes to those things.

So, you know, in the end, not right away, but over 10, you know, 20 years, you could start to see some of those patterns develop, but it's a -- some of that is a long time away obviously.

MARCIANO: Sanjay, I have a question. And, Carol, you know, I'm curious, and feel free to pass on this question, Sanjay.

You talk about the impacts it would have on patients, what about doctors? I mean, how is it going to impact a doctor from a brain surgeon down to a primary care physician? Is it going to have a negative or positive effect, encourage kids to go into medicine? What's your take on all that?

GUPTA: That's a good question. Well, as far as the...

MARCIANO: I said you can pass.

GUPTA: ... impact on doctors, it's a -- yes, right. I'm not allowed to pass on this show.

This is -- but the whole point of what these funding for this particular plan and what impact that's going to have on providers overall is an interesting question. I mean, you know, you talk about nearly $500 billion in cuts to Medicare, and if you really start to dissect down, where are they going to take $500 billion out of Medicare, well, a lot of it is provider cuts. You could see the rates will change in terms of what the compensation is for hospitals and that's going to have an impact, I think, overall.

A lot of people will say, well, those increased costs will be passed on to patients. And, you know, that may happen. That has been a pattern that has happened in years past.

And we also know that, you know, various studies have shown that when Medicare was conceived, the projected cost for Medicare in 1990 was going to be about $9 billion. In fact, the price tag was closer to $67 billion. So, it's going to be far more expensive than you think.

You know, medical students, are they less likely to go into medicine or are they less likely to choose certain fields? That's hard to say. You know, I mean, there's -- the medical school applications have not really dropped off despite all that's been happening with organized medicine over the past several years. So, you know -- again, trying to predict the future here, a difficult thing do.

COSTELLO: You mean doctors don't go into medicine for money? I'm just kidding.

GUPTA: Well, you know -- I think, you know, if you look at primary care versus specialties, I think, you know, that's an interesting question, because they expect up to 46,000 primary care doctors short within the next 10 to 15 years -- 46,000 doctors short. So, you have a card now, but you can't find a doctor, and that's obviously a problem.

And part of what's driving that, I think, Carol, is money. I think primary care doesn't pay as much as other specialties. And that -- you know, part of this is also trying to incentivize people to go into primary care, loan forgiveness program, trying to get people to practice in rural areas, but again, you know, it's hard to predict just how much of an impact some of these things is going to have.

COSTELLO: All right. Sanjay Gupta, thanks. You'll stick around. We'll be asking you more questions throughout AMERICAN MORNING. And when we talked about this bill, of course, the Senate passed its version of the health care bill, the House has passed its version of the health care bill. They did on November 7th.

Now it's time to marry the bills. Both the House and Senate will vote on identical bills and then that bill will go to the president's desk.

Quick programming note, speaking of the president, at 8:45 Eastern Time, the president will make a statement right before the First Family leaves for their holiday in Hawaii.

MARCIANO: It is eight minutes after the hour.

Let's go to a man who no doubt has been motivating many of science student to get into the field of meteorology, Reynolds Wolf, who is tracking a major storm right now, Reynolds. And a lot of folks are dealing with travel issues.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's -- you're actually right. I mean, hopefully, we can motivate some travelers to really be careful out there today, especially along the roads of parts of I-20, where you're going to see some heavy rain through parts of Louisiana back into Mississippi.

As we go to the maps. You can see an area shaded on this red and green, and that happens to be where we have a tornado watch in effect until 1:00 local time.

Go west, it's not rain, but snow -- especially along I-20, west of Dallas. Before all is said and done, suburbs of Dallas could see up to four inches of snowfall.

Go north, it's a snow and it's also a wind event in parts of, say, western Great Lakes back into Minneapolis. You can see some delays there. That's certainly going to be a possibility for you. And we're going to talk more about those potential delays coming up in a just short while.

Let's send it back to you guys in New York.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Reynolds. We're...

WOLF: You bet, guys.

COSTELLO: We're covering the Senate's health care vote from every angle this morning. Kate Bolduan is taking a look at all the lobbying that's gone into this bill, including faith based lobbying. That might surprise how religious groups have a growing influence on Capitol Hill.

It's nine minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's 11 minutes past the hour. That means it's time for an A.M. original, something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.

But first, here's what's new this morning.

Right now, a tornado swatch in effect over eastern Texas after a twister swept through the town of Longview last night. Homes and vehicles were damaged. Roads were closed. Gas lines ruptured. Power knocked out to about 1,100 hundred homes. Luckily, no injuries reported.

MARCIANO: And, Reynolds, we'll have more on that throughout the morning.

And you remember this undercover video? Well, it shows a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute getting advice from ACORN employees on how to evade tax laws. Well, according to a report commissioned by the House Judiciary Committee, ACORN has not violated any regulations in the last five years. The report finds community organizing group correctly used all federal dollars it received and did not register voters improperly.

COSTELLO: Christmas came early for Freddie and Fannie, the top executives at government-run mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will each pocket between $4 million and $5 million this year. The disclosure is expected today. The pay package is greenlighted by the Treasury Departments and Federal Housing Finance Agency. Both companies have accepted over $100 billion in taxpayer bailout money.

Time now for that A.M. original, something you won't see anywhere else.

Take a look at this. So far this year, lobbyists in Washington have spent more than $400 million trying to sway Congress on health care reform. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it? That's out of that $2.5 billion spent over all on lobbying. Out of that 15,000 -- out of that actually, 15,000 lobbying groups and thousands of individual lobbyists have spent that money, one bloc of that lobbying group is growing at a surprising pace following their fate from church to Capitol Hill.

Here's Kate Bolduan with an A.M. original.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SISTER MARGE CLARK, LOBBYIST: So, I think at some point we need to go through question by question and I don't...

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sister Marge Clark has been a nun for more than 36 years. She's also a registered lobbyist working just blocks from Capitol Hill.

CLARK: I think we're always looking through a faith lens. We're always looking at it from the cry of the poor.

BOLDUAN: Her firm, Network, considers itself a Catholic social justice advocate, lobbying on issues and legislation ranging from immigration to health care, fair pay, even F-22 fighter jet program.

(on camera): Why is it important to you to take your advocacy out of the church and onto Capitol Hill?

CLARK: Because the church can't change the systems. It's law that has to be changed.

BOLDUAN (voice-over): Sister Marge is far from unique. Political and religious experts say there has been a surge in religious lobbying in recent years, including Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim groups.

ALLEN HERTZKE, POLITICAL PROFESSOR, UNIV. OF OKLAHOMA: If you belong it a church or a synagogue or a temple or a mosque, chances are your denomination or your faith has a Washington office. It has become that broad.

BOLDUAN: Alan Hertzke is a soon to be released Pew study on religious advocacy. He estimates the religious lobby is a multi- million dollar enterprise with more than 200 official and unofficial groups vying for influence in Washington.

While the scope of religious lobbying may be modest compared to the entire lobbying industry, those who study money and politics add, it's very difficult to measure the muscle of faith. And skeptics say that is a problem, what they see is undue influence these groups wield even as some maintain tax exempt status.

BARRY LYNN, AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE: I'm not saying that people don't have the right to make moral arguments to congress, but congress has to make its decisions not based on pressure from any church, but on the basis of the constitutional values of all of us.

BOLDUAN: So is the line separating church and state beginning to blur? Sister Marge says not at all.

SISTER MARGE CLARK, LOBBYIST: Jesus was a political activist, he was trying to change unjust systems. And I think that's one of the ties for being a lobbyist.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Now, religious advocacy experts say rather than a legal issue, it's more a question of accepted standards where should faith- based organizations draw the line? A pew study suggests the American public's view at least may be shifting. Take a look here in 1996, 54% said houses of worship should express their political views. Then in 2008, 52% said they should keep out of it. Carol.

COSTELLO: Fascinating. Kate Bolduan live for us in Washington this morning. Thanks.

Tonight on CNN, the price of faith. Americans grappling with the financial costs of staying true to their beliefs. And a special hour, our Christine Romans explores the crossroads between how we worship and how we spend. In God we trust, faith and money in America airs tonight at 6:00 eastern right here on CNN.

At night, in the morning, Christine Romans is everywhere and she's going to come back with more news on health care. Who wins, who loses, "Minding Your Business" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

It's 8:00 a.m.

COSTELLO: What's he doing up this early? Maybe just, you know, kind of like Nascar, taking a couple of laps around the track before they start the race. Santa wears a red jacket as does Christine Romans on Christmas eve. Looks fabulous on you, by the way.

COSTELLO: And a red tie and a leopard print.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm wearing my power dress today.

"Minding Your Business" this morning, Christine Romans has been busy on all fronts.

ROMANS: I have. We're looking into health care reform. When you will see changes, you know, this all has to be hashed out still, right? We have a lot of different things to get through. We know they have to put these two versions together, but this is what we think is going to happen. When will you see some changes?

If you're in an employer sponsored plan, meaning your employer gives you your, you know, health coverage, you have co- insurance through your employer, there will be no immediate effects today. I mean the effects that you are seeing if have you health insurance through your company, you've already seen this, you're paying more of your share, that's probably going to continue.

If you're made to purchase your own insurance, if you need to buy your own insurance, the changes will come into effect when you buy that new policy. Here's some of the deadlines, some of the dates to keep in mind. 2010, next year, this is when you'll start to see some real changes. This is when the insurance companies can no longer have lifetime caps on coverage and when preventative care must be fully covered, this is colonoscopy, mammograms, vaccines for the flu, for example.

And quit smoking programs. 2014 this is when the biggest moves come from both consumers and the insurance companies. Those big changes do not happen until 2014. That's when the insurance mandate takes effect.

This means you must buy, in some cases, subsidized insurance on your own. There will be penalties for no insurance, the first year for that penalty is $95 folks, you are deemed by the government that you need to buy insurance you can afford it. $95 if you don't, the first year. $495 if you don't buy it the second year. $750 if you don't buy it after that so they're going to give you a little bit of a staggered entry into this program.

There are tax credits and subsidies for families making up to $88,000 depending on where you are in this whole thing. There will be tax credits and subsidies to compensate for the fact that you have to go out and buy insurance.

COSTELLO: And we should remind people that if the senate and house bills can be merged and become one and then President Obama passes this thing into law. ROMANS: How long have we been saying with the caveat, yes, this is not said and done yet. We've got two different bills that have been passed. There's a lot of victory lapping going around in Washington but still a lot of hard work ahead.

The Romans numeral. We have this number. Our Christine brings it to you every day, has something to do with something important to you. And today's, and this hour's number is?

ROMANS: It's something like 95%. This is the number the president actually used last night that caught my attention. The president was talking to Jim Lehrer, you know what this one is.

COSTELLO: I do. It's like he got 95% of what he wanted in these health care bills.

ROMANS: Yes.

Really?

ROMANS: You know, he was asked, so did you get what you wanted? And he said, well, from what I've seen here, I think I got 95 percent of what I wanted. I think liberals would say they did not get 95% of what they wanted.

COSTELLO: President Obama is not so much interested in that public option any longer.

ROMANS: And Republicans will say they did not get 95 percent of what they wanted. They probably got zero percent of what they wanted.

COSTELLO: Well, they got rid of the public option at least in the senate bill, right?

It's going to be a new decade coming up. New things, we'll see what happens. Christine Romans, thank you. All right she's the hostess with the mostest, you know who she is. She's the diva of domesticity. Martha Stewart, using her impeccable taste to make life better for other people. And Alina Cho brings us the next installment of our AM series, "Big Stars, Big Giving". It's 23 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Alina so aptly put it, that's a Christmasy song.

Definitely getting in the season.

COSTELLO: Yes. It's 25 minutes past the hour. That means it is time for an A.M. original, something you'll see only on "American Morning." All this week, we're profiling celebrities who are giving back not just now during the holiday season but all year long.

And this morning, Alina Cho goes one on one with Martha Stewart. She's a one woman empire for sure but one special project has a special place in her heart. Here's the latest installment of our series, "Big Stars Big Giving".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Martha Stewart has built an empire on being the perfect hostess.

MARTHA STEWART: I love this seeded eucalyptus. It looks really pretty.

CHO: Her name is on just about everything but she'll tell you this project means the most. The Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.

STEWART: It's not the center for aging, it's not the center for preparing to die. It is the center for living.

CHO: An outpatient clinic for aging baby boomers where older Americans can come for medical care and age with grace. This Martha built if for big Martha, her mother, who died two years ago at 93.

STEWART: She was fantastic. Mom had very, very few problems. But she had very good medical care. And I wanted to use her as an example for the rest of the population. You know there, is something called the silver tsunami going on.

CHO: A tsunami all right, American baby boomers number 78 million and the first of them will begin turning 65 in 2011. A segment of the population Stewart believes gets back burner treatment.

STEWART: The focus has been on youth and vibrancy.

CHO (on camera): Why is it so important to you?

STEWART: Well, I think I'm going to live for a very long time, I mean I have it in my gene pool, I think that and I don't want to be a burden.

CHO (voice-over): A key reason why the center for living is just that. There's yoga, dance, and because this is Martha Stewart, arts and crafts, too. The classes are free. Stewart donated $5 million and her expertise to build it.

CHO (on camera): You are famously particular.

STEWART: Thank you. I hope so.

CHO: How intimately involved were you in the planning, in the building, in the deck corps.

STEWART: I helped actually choose the materials that were used in the center.

CHO (voice-over): That's for sure.

STEWART: The floors are honed granite which are just so nice, they're not slippery. CHO: Good for people who are prone to falling. Handrails help, too. So do the doors.

CHO (on camera): Something that regular people wouldn't think about but heavy swinging doors that are so difficult.

STEWART: They just zip back.

CHO: It's very Martha Stewart, I must say.

STEWART: Well, I think it's very beautiful.

CHO (voice-over): It was less than five years ago, that Stewart emerged from prison after a five month sentence for lying about a stock sale leading some skeptics to say the Center for Living is less about charity and more about personal rehab. PR. Her supporters say it's exactly the reverse. And say this project is flying mostly under the public radar.

TINA BROAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THEDAILYBEAST.COM: Frankly at this moment in her life she's been through such hell. She really does want to just focus on the things she cares about right now and I think that's one of them.

CHO (on camera): If big Martha could see the center today, and see how it is thriving.

STEWART: Oh, she would be here. I know she would be a patient here and be very, very happy and thrilled.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: She sure would. Martha and big Martha were very, very close. You know, Martha Stewart hopes her Center for Living becomes a prototype for other hospitals around the country. She believes that every American has the right to age gracefully just like her mother. And big Martha, guys, really is the model for this center for living. I mean, well into her 90s, she drove, she was a caregiver, she was a caretaker. She read the paper every day so she knew what was going on. Her mind was active. And Martha Stewart really believes that this is the way that you should live your life into those later years. And that's the way to age gracefully. She thinks that it shouldn't be just for people of means but it should be for everyone which is why she helped build the center.

COSTELLO: And everything is like picture perfect in that -

CHO: That is right. We are talking about Martha Stewart, after all.

COSTELLO: So, besides yoga and stuff like that there's what did you say?

CHO: Pill box decorating classes.

COSTELLO: You're going to do that. I already do that, but I could use some lessons.

CHO: We're talking about Martha Stewart here, serious business.

MARCIANO: Also serious business, I hear Richard Branson is your last installment.

CHO: That's right. We all know Richard Branson. He's larger than life. He's the man behind the mega brand Virgin. More than 200 companies, guys, including Virgin Unite, that's his philanthropic arm. Branson takes philanthropy very, very seriously. He treats it like a business.

So here's his philosophy -- identify a problem, get a great team behind it, and then try to solve it. So it's hard to keep up with him. He goes. But we're going to bring you that interview tomorrow morning starting at 6:00.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Alina.

CHO: You bet.

COSTELLO: It's 30 minutes past the hour. Time to check our top stories.

After all the debating and the voting, we are now closer than we've been in generations to expanding health care coverage in this country. The Senate passed its version of health care reform just about an hour and 15 minutes ago.

The president set to speak to the nation about it in about 15 minutes, actually. The RNC Chairman Michael Steele responding this vote by saying the bill was secretly rushed through on Christmas Eve because most Democrats are not proud of it.

MARCIANO: And if you're rushing home for the holidays today, like a lot of politicians, you could be in for a major headache. A huge winter storm bearing down on the Midwest is icing road, canceling flights, also severe weather to the south.

So if you're packing right now and heading to the airport, double check that flight. It looks like it's going to get worse -- two feet of snow possible in places by Christmas morning.

COSTELLO: Plus, what an emotional reunion. Take a look -- nine- year-old Sean Goldman has finally been reunited with his father David after more than five years apart. A judge in Brazil ordering that the child go back to his father.

You see the little boy, there Sean. The handover just a couple of hours ago, it happened around 6:00 a.m. eastern time. It happened at the U.S. consulate in Rio de Janeiro. Sean's mother brought him to Brazil back be in 2004. She kept him from his dad. He died last year during childbirth. Officials say all legal proceedings in the case have now been resolved. We're just 15 minutes away from President Obama's statement on health care reform. The Senate passing its version early this morning. Senators now on their way home for the holidays.

But their work is far from over. After the Christmas break, the House and Senate versions of the bill will have to be reconciled. Here to talk about what's going to take place, CNN's senior political analyst David Gergen is joining us live from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Good morning, David.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol. How are you?

COSTELLO: I'm good. Are you breathing a sigh of relief now that the Senate has voted to pass this thing?

GERGEN: Aren't we all? We talked and talked about coming to this final vote. It's been a marathon getting here, one of the longest consecutive sittings of the United States Senate to pass legislation that is considered a milestone in social legislation, something the Democratic Party has dried for decades and the Republican Party rues as a huge government takeover of our health care system.

So this is going to continue to reverberate through politics for a long time. But we should get a bill from the House and the Senate sometime in early February that the president could put his name to.

COSTELLO: And I know that the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Majority Leader of the Senate Harry Reid and maybe even President Obama, have they gotten together and talked about this thing even before the new year?

GERGEN: I'm not sure they've gotten together per se. I'm not aware of any meeting. They have had a variety of conversations, and certainly Rahm Emanuel and others from the White House have been actively involved in the negotiations.

And it's clear that the president will take a more active hand in the conference itself, reconciling, because there are some differences between the House and Senate. The House will have to, I think, now recognize it will have to swallow the fact that the Senate has killed the public option, killed the idea of a Medicare buy-in.

What the House would like to do is to increase subsidies, which would make it a more expensive bill, and also move the date of some of the effective date of getting this done up a year earlier to 2013.

But already there is a dissenting voice in the Senate, saying don't touch that bill. It's Senator Ben Nelson. One wonders how much more is going to be built in Nebraska before this is done.

COSTELLO: You're not kidding. He plays his hand well, doesn't he?

GERGEN: Well, it's very unusual, it's very unusual, and it's causing a lot of angst, as you can imagine.

COSTELLO: Yes, and a lot of attorneys general are looking into this matter, I think, at the urging of Republicans.

I want to talk about this conference committee that's going to be put together by the House and the Senate. Who exactly is going to be involved in marrying the House and Senate version of these bills together? Is it safe it say there will be no Republicans involved?

GERGEN: Well, that's a very good question. I think it's extremely likely that they will not have any Republicans. There might have been a time when say an Olympia Snowe, Republican senator from Maine, might have been on that committee.

But just this week she voted against the health care bill, saying there were aspects of this bill that were unconstitutional in her view. So it's hard to imagine, now that she's so soured on the final product that she would be on the committee.

I imagine this will be a straight party line conference. That is, this whole process has become so party line, so polarized, so toxic up there, with all sorts of repercussions for the future, I think is not healthy.

It's very marked departure from what we've done in the past when time after time from Social Security to Medicare to civil rights the Senate has acted in a bipartisan fashion. This is a sharp departure.

But it is what it is. And we're going forward. The Democratic Party is going to go forward. And they will take their chances. I can't tell you how I think this going to continue to be a political football in the country.

COSTELLO: But I was just going to ask you about this. This vicious partisanship, is this just the sign of things to come? Is this just how it's going to be on Capitol Hill from now on?

GERGEN: Well, it's not suddenly descended upon us as dark night of partisanship. It's been coming over the last few years. But I'm afraid it's become the dominant culture in Washington and it's going to be hard to break out of it because next year, there are a lot of Republicans who are already saying, like Lindsey Graham, who was prepared to work with Democrats on the big environmental bill, the cap and trade bill as it's called in this coming year, he thinks feelings are so bruised on both sides that it's going to be very difficult to work together now.

So the chances of getting that big energy bill so important to Copenhagen, for example, that's going to be a lot harder do. And as we get closer to the 2010 elections, you're going to see the natural rise of partisanship. It's going to get even worse than what we've seen.

So I'm afraid we're in for a long haul in which the president is going to have to, if anything, be more assertive from the White House, and perhaps more assertive with Democrats, especially as it comes to cutting spending.

There are people in the White House who believe the president wouldn't mind after health care is done wouldn't mind a couple of fights with his own Democrats simply to right the boat a little bit.

COSTELLO: Well, the president is going to be speak in about ten minutes. So we'll see what he has to say. David Gergen, thanks for joining us this morning on Christmas Eve.

GERGEN: Thank you, Carol, and have a happy Christmas.

COSTELLO: You, too.

MARCIANO: It's been a long week -- a long year really, for the Senate, especially for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, which is why he may have choked a little bit this morning. Listen closely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rhode island. Mr. Reid of Nevada?

(LAUGHTER)

Mr. Reid of Nevada, aye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That's how exhausted he was -- he initially voted no on bill that he has been fighting tooth and nail for that may cost him his political career. But he did change that to yes.

MARCIANO: And on behalf of the incredible staff that works the graveyard shift to put this show on the air every morning, we feel your pain, senator, for sure.

COSTELLO: We do.

MARCIANO: Keep it right here. In just minutes the president will talk about the health care bill and the reform, and now it's closer than ever. It's 38 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: All right, well you're looking at live pictures of the state ding room in the White House where President Obama is expected to give remarks on the Senate passing the health care reform bill. That's just minutes away. We will bring that to you live as it comes into us.

COSTELLO: We expect his remarks to be quite short because he is headed to Hawaii with his family right after that.

If you're just joining us, of course we're following that breaking news this morning. Senators heading home for Christmas have checked one big items off President Obama's to do list. This morning they passed their version of the health care bill, but that's just one of many issues the president campaigned on.

MARCIANO: That's true. This president has promised a lot, and people expect a lot from him. So nearly a year into his administration, we wanted to know is he living up to those expectations? Tom Foreman has got some answer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's start with the issue that looms above all others for better or worse, the economy. The president promised big improvement, so let's look at the key indicator. Unemployment star started this year at 7.6 percent, now it's at 10.

Home losses are much worse than they were last year. Realtytrack.com says more than 300,000 foreclosure each month, nine months in a row.

Bank failures -- more than 140 have closed. But the president said fixing all this would take time, and in fairness, he did inherit many of these problems from George Bush, and there are signs of improvement, especially in the stock market, which has clawed its way back up over the 10,000 mark.

A health care reform law by the end of the year -- the timing, no, that's not going to happen. Even if he signs it in the next month or so, it's going it be a mixed bag. The government option, also known as the public option, which he wanted early on, appears to be a long shot if it has any shot at all.

Coverage for all Americans, another promise there -- no. The estimates vary on how many people will remain uninsured, but certainly it will be millions.

Still, health care reform has never made it this far before and it does present a fundamental change for health care change in America. So still big hurdles, but a lot of progress, too.

The president said he would increase the number of troops in Afghanistan. He has and continues to do so. He also said he would have all the combat troops of Iraq by the summer of 2010. That depends on what you define as a combat troop, how he's going to do on that.

In any event, he has planned the withdrawal and has pretty much followed the blueprint laid out by President Bush, which has angered his liberal supporters who wanted a much more ambitious withdrawal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Tom Foreman.

Of course, we are awaiting President Obama to take to that podium in the state dining room so he can give his remarks about how he feels about the Senate passage of the health care reform bill. He's late.

MARCIANO: And he's late, of course.

And in its present form, what Tom pointed out there is the two huge things that the president wanted, which was universal health care coverage for everyone. That's not entirely what's in the bill. And, of course, the public option.

But recently he said that 95 percent of this bill is what he wanted. So a lot of people are questioning the math there, but certainly there's a lot of compromise going on in D.C. where you live and certainly know that.

COSTELLO: Absolutely true.

Actually, we're going to toss to a break right now, and hopefully the president will be back on time. He'll be behind that podium and he'll be speaking to us. We'll be right back.

It's 44 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: Following breaking news this morning: the Senate voting on the health care bill, well, we have the numbers 60-39.

COSTELLO: Sixty to 39, 60 Democrats voted for health care reform at 7:00 a.m. Eastern on Christmas Eve. Quite historic, they haven't really met on Christmas Eve to decide anything as far as voting for a bill for a century.

MARCIANO: So the Democrats rejoicing as likely the president who we're waiting on. He's about to give remarks to us live from the White House. Many senators on their way home now after making this vote which we've been pointing out all morning, Carol, is not a done deal just yet.

Both the House and the Senate have to compromise to come up with something in detail that would give them the option to vote on it and then make it a law.

COSTELLO: It will be interesting to hear what the president has to say because he sort of took a hands-off approach during this whole process. Some analysts say he needs to be much more hands on in the New Year to push this thing through to final passage.

Because the House, of course, is much more liberal than the Senate and to marry these two bills will take a huge effort by the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and of course the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who was so tired this morning giving the vote he inadvertently voted no on a bill that he's been pushing so hard. The entire Senate chamber broke into laughter.

MARCIANO: A comic relief...

COSTELLO: A little comic relief, and then Senator Reid quickly changed his vote, no I was just kidding. MARCIANO: So almost a full year now into the president's first year of his administration and this certainly a highlight; a lot of compromise, certainly there's a lot of things that he wants in this bill. We should also note that when the House and Senate convene to hammer this thing out they're not supposed to add anything. We'll see if that remains true.

All right, here's the president with remarks on the passing of the health care reform bill early this morning by the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good morning, everybody. In a historic vote that took place this morning, members of the Senate joined their colleagues in the House of Representatives to pass a landmark health insurance reform package, a legislation that brings us toward the end of a nearly century-long struggle to reform America's health care system.

Ever since Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform in 1912, seven presidents, Democrats and Republicans alike, have taken up the cause of reform. Time and time again such efforts have been blocked by special interest lobbyists who perpetuated the status quo that works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people.

But with passage of reform bills in both the House and the Senate, we are finally poised to deliver on the promise of real, meaningful health insurance reform that will bring additional security and stability to the American people. The reform bill that passed the Senate this morning like the House bill includes the toughest measures ever taken to hold the insurance industry accountable.

Insurance companies will no longer be able to deny you coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition. They will no longer be able to drop your coverage when you get sick. No longer will you have to pay unlimited amounts out of your own pockets for the treatments you need. And you'll be able to appeal unfair decisions by insurance companies to an independent party.

If this legislation becomes law, workers won't have to worry about losing coverage if they lose or change jobs. Families will save on their premiums, businesses that would see their costs rise if we do not act will save money now and they will save money in the future.

This bill will strengthen Medicare and extend the life of the program. It will make coverage affordable for over 30 million Americans who do not have it -- 30 million Americans. And because it is paid for and curbs the waste and inefficiency in our health care system, this bill will help reduce our deficit by as much as $1.3 trillion in the coming decades, making it the largest deficit reduction plan in over a decade.

As I've said before, these are not small reforms, these are big reforms. If passed, this will be the most important piece of social legislation since the Social Security Act passed in the 1930s. And the most important reform of our health care system since Medicare passed in the 1960s.

And what makes it so important is not just its cost savings or its deficit reductions, it's the impact reform will have on Americans who no longer have to go without a checkup or prescriptions that they need because they can't afford them. On families who no longer have to worry that a single illness will send them into financial ruin and on businesses that will no longer face exorbitant insurance rates that hamper their competitiveness. It's the difference reform will make in the lives of the American people.

I want to commend Senator Harry Reid, extraordinary work that he did; Speaker Pelosi for her extraordinary leadership and dedication. Having passed the reform bills in both the House and the Senate, we now have to take up the last and most important step and reach an agreement on a final reform bill that I can sign into law. And I look forward to working with Members of Congress in both chambers over the coming weeks to do exactly that.

With today's vote we are now incredibly close to making health insurance reform a reality in this country. Our challenge then is to finish the job. We can't doom another generation of Americans to soaring costs and eroding coverage and exploding deficits. Instead, we need to do what we were sent here to do and improve the lives of the people we serve.

For the sake of our citizen, our economy and our future, let's make 2010 the year we finally reform health care in the United States of America.

Everybody, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have a holiday wish for the troops?

COSTELLO: Well, they could -- oh the president is coming back. He's coming back

OBAMA: I do and I will be actually -- I'm on my way right now to call a few of them and wish them Merry Christmas and to thank them for their extraordinary service as they're posted in Iraq and Afghanistan.

COSTELLO: I believe -- yes, I believe that's the only question he will answer. And maybe he'll making those phone calls from Air Force One because the president and his family are flying to Hawaii pretty soon as a matter of fact.

You heard him talk about all of the good points in the bill, the things the American people will accept. Well the Republicans think there's a lot of bad things in the Senate bill and you'll be hearing a lot about that throughout the day.

I want to read you the RNC Chairman Michael Steele's statement about the passage of the Senate health care reform bill. Had said the Democrats have put a 2.5 trillion lump of coal in the stocking of every American knowing that their risky health care experiment still increases premiums, still cuts Medicare and still in that hundreds of billions of new taxes to pay for it. Scrooge would be proud. In the New Year, you're going to see many commercials on television touting both sides of this issue. So it's far from done.

MARCIANO: And the president said he looks forward to working with everyone on Capitol Hill. He will be working...

COSTELLO: But probably not the Republicans, let's be honest.

MARCIANO: They'll be working hard that's for sure.

Always working hard is Sanjay Gupta, our doctor in charge. He's going to break down some of this, with your questions.

It's 53 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In case you're just joining us this morning, the Senate passed its version of the health care reform bill. There's a chance after negotiating with the House that some of the bill's provisions will become reality next year. So, how will they affect you?

MARCIANO: Well, to find out, we're paging chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta; he's answering your questions. Good morning again Sanjay.

This question straight off the bat from Bixby who wants to know, "What about those with adequate health care insurance already who also have a child with life limiting chronic health issues? What is the tax going to be on our benefits and what about the yearly cap?"

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's a great question. Really gets at so many particular points of this bill and also some of the comments that you just heard from President Obama as well.

First of all, with regard to pre-existing conditions in children: we've been hearing so much about the fact that so many aspects of this bill won't take place until 2014. It's sooner for children. So six months after the bill is passed, if it is passed, there will no longer be any denials or discrimination based on pre-existing condition. So that's really important for this particular family and their child.

They can't deny coverage and they also can't increase premiums, either. You know insurance companies in the past would have higher premiums for children who already have some sort of illness.

Another big thing in this bill that may affect this particular family here -- the Bixby family -- is this idea that there's no caps, specifically in the Senate bill. So you have a child who has some sort of chronic disease, they start to aggregate lots of costs very quickly and over a lifetime, they can get extremely high.

So there's not lifetime caps either on individuals or families anymore again as part of the Senate bill. There's a little bit of a language difference there between the Senate bill and the House bill so Rob, to your point, that could still change.

As far as taxes go, it's like this, there are things called Cadillac plans. If they're paying over $23,000 a year to cover a family of four, anything above that $23,000 in terms of health insurance would be excise taxed to 40 percent. So I don't know how much their particular plan costs but that's the way the tax on benefits works for them.

COSTELLO: Actually, you know, Bixby called her health care plan adequate so should she pop around for something better after this maybe becomes law since there's now a ban on denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions?

MARCIANO: Will she be allowed to shop around?

GUPTA: Right. And that's really the important question. I think it's interesting. When we talk about the public option, this has been one, I think, of the hardest things that people -- most misunderstood things by this whole thing.

There was this concern that it would become a government takeover. Everyone would join the public option or an exchange and they not have their own private insurance anymore. The reality is this particular family probably would eligible for the exchange.

A couple of reasons: if have you insurance through your employer already, you're not eligible for the exchange. People who run small businesses, people who are self-employed, people who cannot get coverage through their employers, that's who will be candidates for the exchange. And they estimate that will be between 11 million and 19 million people. So it's not everybody by any means.

If they can get coverage through their employer, that's probably as they stated, adequate for them.

COSTELLO: That's some complicated stuff. And thank you, Sanjay.

GUPTA: It should be -- in some ways I think it should be hard. The whole process has been interesting to watch the back and forth but at the end of it, I think you have something that's obviously complicated but addresses lots of different concerns.

MARCIANO: We're certainly glad to have you here to break it down for us. Thanks again, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Happy holidays, guys.

MARCIANO: Likewise. It is 59 minutes of after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Senator Harry Reid gets his wish. The Senate has voted for health care reform by a vote of 60 to 39.

MARCIANO: Now everybody is going home. Not at CNN though. Here's "CNN NEWSROOM" with Fredricka Whitfield -- hi Fred.