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House Democrats unveiled a bill Tuesday to overhaul the health care system. On the latest episode of Washington Unplugged, CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer talked with Rep. Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democrat and a leader among the moderate so-called "blue dog" Democrats in the House, about the proposed legislation and the future of the bill in Congress.

Cooper stressed the bill's importance, saying that it is "more important than a war and peace vote" because "everyone's on the battlefield" when it comes to health care.

"If we do nothing, America literally risks bankruptcy," Cooper said. "This isn't optional reform; we've got to do something because the status quo is unsustainable."

The bill proposed by the House would cost $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years, and concerns about cost make Cooper apprehensive about the legislation. He says bringing in money from small business owners isn't necessary, since there is enough "waste" in the current system to pay for the program.

"Pouring more money into a broken system isn't a really good idea," Cooper said. "There's so much waste in the health care system that we don't really need to go outside the health care system."

Despite initial efforts by the Blue Dog Coalition to stall the bill's release, Cooper says it is thoroughly feasible that a good piece of legislation be passed by August 1.

In an interview yesterday with CBS News' Katie Couric, President Obama defended some of the spending in his stimulus package.

The bill now being debated in the Senate includes, as Couric noted, "$6.2 billion for home weatherization, $100 million for children to learn green construction, $50 million for port modernization water and wastewater infrastructure needs in Guam, $50 million for the NEA, the National Endowment for the Arts."

"Well, let's think about it," the president said, seizing on the weatherization example. "We're going to weatherize homes, that immediately puts people back to work and we're going to train people who are out of work, including young people, to do the weatherization. As a consequence of weatherization, our energy bills go down and we reduce our dependence on foreign oil. What would be a more effective stimulus package than that?"

While the president is backing the provisions publicly, however, behind closed doors the White House may be working to fight some of the spending in the bill that might be considered pork.

In an interview with Liberadio that was picked up by the Nashville Post, Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee said he was encouraged by the Obama administration to fight against some of the bill's more controversial provisions when it was in the House.

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