STEPHANOPOULOS: At 11:15 last night, the gavel came down. With only two votes to spare, the House had passed reform of health care. President Obama summed it up in three words: "This is history." At least one Republican called it a wrecking ball to the economy. We'll take on that debate in just a moment with the party chairs and our powerhouse "Roundtable."

But we begin with the latest on last Friday's mass killing at Fort Hood. Flags at the White House and all government buildings remain at half staff today. The Obamas will attend a memorial service at Fort Hood on Tuesday. And we are joined here in the studio this morning by the Army's chief officer, General George Casey.

Welcome to THIS WEEK.

GEN. GEORGE CASEY, ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF: Thank you, George.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And let me begin by offering our condolences to you and all of the families at Fort Hood. I know you just returned...

CASEY: Thank you very much.

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... from there. And you were able to spend some time with the wounded. What were you able to learn about what they saw and what they did when the shooting broke out?

CASEY: I'll tell you that my trip there on Friday with secretary of the army, John McHugh, was at once gut-wrenching and uplifting. And in talking to the wounded soldiers and in talking to the medical providers and soldiers who are at the site, I came away with what a horrific experience it was for them.

But also I was uplifted by the -- by what they did for each other. And when you talk to the wounded soldiers, the one thing that they all stress was how -- was their reaction, and their reaction in support of each other.

STEPHANOPOULOS: It was immediate.

CASEY: It was immediate. And just stories like medics who were next -- in another building next door at a graduation, their graduation, running from the building toward the crime scene in their caps and gowns, ripping them off as they went so they could get there to support their fellow soldiers.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's also get to the latest on the investigation. It's my understanding that Army investigators have concluded that Major Hasan was the only gunman?

CASEY: That is where they are now. But I don't -- I mean, I don't -- I think as the investigation continues, other things could evolve. But I think that is where they are today.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you believe it was the only gunman right -- at least for right now, not conclusive, are you confident that he acted alone, that there were no other co-conspirators?

CASEY: George, I can't comment on the ongoing investigation. And those facts will come out over time here. We need to let the investigation take its course. And as I said, that will evolve over the coming days and weeks here.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But do you have any better understanding of why the first reports suggested there were two or three attackers?

CASEY: My understanding from being down there and talking to the investigators and General Cone was there were two or three soldiers that were seen running from the area, and people assumed that they were running from the police. And they just checked them out and have since decided that they weren't part of this.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And that's why they were released.

CASEY: Yes.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You say you can't talk too much about the investigation, but we are learning a fair amount about Major Hasan in the last couple of days. And it appears that there were several warning signs they either could have or should have been caught.

His fellow students and here in Bethesda, Maryland, say that he had anti-American rants at various presentations. The FBI has found some Internet postings by a man with Mr. Hasan's name, very inflammatory, praising suicide bombers.

And one of the major's fellow students has been especially concerned by what he said. He said that it was very clear to him, and his name is Val Finnell, that -- and that he had complained to administrators at a military university about these anti-American rants. And the AP story that quotes him goes on to say that Hasan's fellow students complained to the faculty about Hasan's anti-American propaganda, but said a fear of appearing discriminatory against a Muslim student kept off the students from filing a formal complaint. Is that true?

CASEY: I think we need to be very careful here about speculating based on anecdotes like that. We are encouraging all of our soldiers and leaders that may have information pertaining to the suspect to come forward with that information to the criminal investigation division and to the FBI. So, I realize there is a lot out there. We all want to know what happened and what motivated the suspect, but I think we need to be very, very careful here in these early days to let the investigation take its course. These are professionals and they will sort through this.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So it's fair to say that right now, you can't rule out anything. We don't know if this was an act of premeditated political terror, or if this was a case of someone who just snapped.

CASEY: I think you are exactly right, and I don't think we should speculate on one or the other or any other possibilities.

STEPHANOPOULOS: One of the things this does raise, though, is the special challenge paused to all of you by Muslims in the military. There are only about 3,000 Muslims in the military right now, and on the one hand, you want to recruit Muslims. There is a great need for Muslims in the military right now. On the other hand, this is not the first case we've seen of fratricide by someone with a Muslim background in the military. How do you deal with this challenge?

CASEY: Again, I think that's something else we need to be very careful about, and I think the speculation could potentially heighten backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers. And what happened at Fort Hood was a tragedy, but I believe it would be an even greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here. And it's not just about Muslims. We have a very diverse army. We have a very diverse society. And that gives us all strength. So again, we need to be very careful with that.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You say it gives us strength. We also have more and more signs that the military right now is under great stress, and military families under great stress, with repeated deployments both to Iraq and Afghanistan. It was pretty clear that one of the things on Major Hasan's mind was the fear of being sent, as he would be, for the first time, to Afghanistan. But is this something we're going to -- and I know you are addressing it every single day -- but is this something that we're going to be paying more attention to? And what more can be done to prevent something like this in the future?

CASEY: I'd say two things to that. First of all, we in the Army will take a very hard look at ourselves and ask ourselves the hard questions, because we want to, as everyone else wants to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.

The second thing you asked, can we do more to help the stresses and strains on the soldiers and families. And I can only say we will continue to do whatever it takes. And we've made great strides in the last several years in increasing what we're doing from -- the mental fitness of the force. In 2007, we had an Army-wide stigma reduction campaign, that actually we saw the benefits right away in the 40- percent increase in the number of soldiers who came forward and said they were suffering from post-traumatic stress. We have gone after the suicide problems they were having very hard. We've contracted with the National Institute for Health for a five-year, $50 million study of suicides. It's not only going to help the Army, it's going to help the country. And recently, we just implemented a program called comprehensive soldier fitness, which is designed to work on the front end of this, to give our soldiers, civilians and family members the resilient skills they need to make it through these tough times, and that's a $125 million program here that's going to unfold here over the next several years.

Tomorrow, 150 sergeants and family members will begin a master resilience trainer course at the University of Pennsylvania, and we -- our goal is by this time next year to have a master resilience trainer in every battalion in the Army.

STEPHANOPOULOS: OK, General Casey, thanks very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and all Army families this weekend.

CASEY: Thank you, George. STEPHANOPOULOS: We're going to go straight to our exclusive debate with the party chairs. As they take their seats, here is a sampling from yesterday's House debate on health care. Seemed like kiddie's day in Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(UNKNOWN): This is Mattie. Mattie believes in freedom. Mattie likes America because we have freedom here, and Mattie believes in patient choice health care. She asked to come here today to say she doesn't want the government to take over health care.

(UNKNOWN): I encourage each of my colleagues to join me in voting yes, and I can assure you these guys aren't going to have to pay for it in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: I am pretty sure we have no kids on the set this morning, but we are joined by the two party chairs, Democrat Tim Kaine of Virginia, Republican Michael Steele.

Welcome to both of you.

STEELE: Great to be here.

KAINE: Great to be here, George. Thanks.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And thank you for not bringing any props.

(LAUGHTER)

And, Governor Kaine, let me begin with you because it appears that the Republicans -- and a lot of Republicans I talk to are saying that this is going to be a Pyhrric victory for the Democrats, that what you have here on the health care bill is $400 billion in tax hikes, $400 billion in Medicare cuts. And that's going to spark a backlash that's going to haunt Democrats at the polls next year.

KAINE: George, of course, Republicans are saying that. They've been trying to block this all year. They've said that they want to beat health care reform as a way to break the president.

But there's no denying that this was a historic passage last night, on an issue that President Teddy Roosevelt, the Republicans started 100 years ago, that now is moving forward in all the committees, and now, with the House vote of historic importance.

And what this bill does is it provides security for the four- fifths of Americans who have health insurance so that they can't get abused by, really, predatory insurance company practices.

It provides a path to affordable coverage for uninsured Americans for the first time in the history of this country. And then it does significant work to start to break the unsustainable growth in health care cost that is breaking the bank for families and businesses.

We think this was a big and historic win into the week in a great way.

STEPHANOPOULOS: When you hear Governor Kaine talk about, it sounds... STEELE: Well, it sounds...

(CROSSTALK)

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... only one Republican voted for it.

STEELE: ... not. No, look, you know, Teddy Roosevelt probably didn't have this in mind. And certainly, this would have been one of those things he would have hunted on the big -- big range and shot dead.

(LAUGHTER)

KAINE: Teddy wouldn't have wanted insurance companies to be running...

(CROSSTALK)

STEELE: The reality of it is we don't want the government running things, either. And so -- and that's what this amounts to. This is a government takeover of our health care system. It is unnecessary. Republicans have not blocked -- tried to block this for the purposes of saying no to health care reform. We've been trying to block it to bring some common sense, and so we could sit down and have a discussion.

Republican leaders, in a letter to the president in April of this year, requested a sit-down, face to face, let's talk about your agenda and ours and where we can find consensus.

They're still waiting for that meeting. They've been blocked from putting, I think, real form, into this bill. All their amendments were rejected in committee.

They didn't have the chance to really debate this last night. You're doing this at 11 o'clock on a Saturday night? America's watching?

STEPHANOPOULOS: The debate did stretch...

KAINE: Yes, I mean, George, the debate stretched on -- the debate stretched on for months. The Republicans had plenty of advance notice.

This isn't a government takeover of health care.

STEELE: It is -- it is very much a government takeover.

KAINE: What it is -- it is an effort by the Republicans to just basically shill for the insurance companies.

STEELE: Oh, please. You know that...

KAINE: The issue -- no, just -- the issue in this bill that is so important to most Americans is that you're not going to get your policy pulled out from under you when you get sick. And when you change jobs, which a lot of Americans do, seven or eight times in life, you won't get turned down for a pre-existing condition.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But that's until 2013.

KAINE: When the Republicans...

(CROSSTALK)

KAINE: Just hold on. When the Republicans put their own plan on the table this week, they didn't tackle pre-existing conditions. We're starting right away...

STEELE: They did -- we did, too.

(CROSSTALK)

STEELE: ... pre-existing conditions. Where's your tort reform? Where's your portability? Where's your -- where's your small-business pools? Where's your program for health savings accounts?

Where are the various programs that you don't need 2,000 pages to get done? You don't need to overhaul the entire system the way the Democrats have put forth last night.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But, Mr. Steele, aren't you concerned now?

You've got the -- the stimulus bill earlier this year, no Republican votes in the House, three in the Senate; one Republican vote in the House, here, that, to a lot of people who are hurting right now, that this is going to seem like the party -- the Republican Party is the party of no?

STEELE: Look, we -- I appreciate that perspective, and that's the image that the Democratic Party would like to have us see. But the reality of it is, and I go back to this point, that Speaker -- Speaker...

(LAUGHTER)

... Leader Boehner and Leader McConnell both have had opportunities to put bills out there, to make amendments, all of which have been rejected.

So the reality of it is, now we've got an opportunity to compare and contrast their bill to our alternative.

(CROSSTALK)

And the reality -- the reality still remains -- the reality still remains that, at the end of the day, this thing grows the size of government; it inserts the government between the doctor and the patient. It now requires mandates on states that can't afford, and it cuts $500 billion from a Medicare program that everyone in this country knows is on the road to bankruptcy.

And the final point is, all of this is prepaid by taxpayers today for a program that they won't even begin to access for four years. Now, let me ask you this.

(CROSSTALK)

KAINE: George, I've got to...

(CROSSTALK)

STEELE: No, no, let me make my one last point, here; then you can...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Ask the question. Then you can respond.

STEELE: Let me ask you this. Would you buy a car today -- put the money on the table today and take deliver four years from now? Because that's exactly what you're doing with this health care system.

(CROSSTALK)

STEELE: And this is not a great car.

KAINE: I'm going to let Michael be the used car salesman. I'm going to talk about health reform.

(CROSSTALK)

KAINE: ... overwhelming majority of Americans want to see this. And what the Republicans are doing -- party of no on the stimulus.

KAINE: They were letting the economy go into a free-fall, not willing to do a single thing about it, losing 800,000 jobs a month, GDP down by 6.5 percent at the end of the Bush administration. They stood back, they were going to let it collapse.

Thank goodness the Democrats and the president put a Recovery Act in place that has GDP growing again. Party of no on health care, only one vote...

STEELE: Well, look...

(CROSSTALK)

KAINE: I'm not done. Only one vote...

STEELE: I'm not going to let you do...

(CROSSTALK)

KAINE: Only one vote.

STEELE: Sorry, Governor...

KAINE: Ninety percent of them voted against equal pay for women.

STEELE: ... you may be a governor but you're not going to filibuster this issue here, I'm sorry.

KAINE: Ninety percent of them voted against expanding health insurance for youngsters in the SCHIP re-authorization.

STEELE: You can check off the talking points...

KAINE: These guys are getting excellent at the no game.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I've heard from both of you on this issue. I do want to move on to the elections, because Michael Steele had a bit of a Freudian slip there where he called -- said "Speaker Boehner." Maybe he was looking out at the election returns on Tuesday, forecasting it into next year...

KAINE: Well, we won two House seats on Tuesday, George.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Two House seats on Tuesday, the margin...

KAINE: Five for five.

STEELE: And you lost...

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... of victory last night. But let me look -- dig into the numbers a little bit more from Tuesday night. One of the things you saw in both Virginia and New Jersey is those new voters that President Obama brought to the polls last year in Virginia and New Jersey, under 30s, way down, half the share of the electorate that they were in 2008.

And then on independents, look at these numbers, first of all, in Virginia. President Obama last year, Democrats won 49-48. This year Republicans two to one, 66-33 among independent voters in Virginia. New Jersey much the same story, 51-47 last year under President Obama, this year Republican Chris Christie gets 60 percent of the independent vote, Democrats get only 30 percent of the independent vote.

That is a huge flashing light for next year, isn't it?

KAINE: Well, George, let me tell you something, you know, and your viewers probably do too that for 24 years, the way the White House goes, both of these governorships go the other direction. In Virginia it has been 32 years.

STEPHANOPOULOS: True, but that is a massive swing among independent voters.

KAINE: But it's not a swing away from the president. The president is popular with independents nationally, Washington Post/ABC poll a week ago, 55 percent approval -- job approval among independent voters. That's north of where he was on Election Day last year.

His job approval in New Jersey, 61 percent, in Virginia, 57 percent. So it is the case that the historic trend in these governors races was cutting against us. And it is the case that independents supported Republican candidates.

But independents nationally and independents in both of these states are strong for their president. That's why we...

STEPHANOPOULOS: So nothing to worry about.

KAINE: Well, no, we're going to look at everything. We wanted to win those races...

STEELE: They have a lot to worry about, George...

KAINE: But -- no, let me finish.

That's why we won the two congressional races. The only national races Tuesday, on national issues were the races in Congress. We won them both.

(CROSSTALK)

KAINE: And we are five for five in congressional races. STEELE: OK. We are 18 of 29 in special elections this year...

KAINE: Not in Congress, you haven't won a congressional race.

STEELE: Of all special elections, all special elections.

KAINE: But none in Congress.

STEELE: Well, look, it's -- that's not the point. When you lose the governorship of New Jersey, you had better be paying attention. And there is a reason why you lost, and it has nothing to do with the president's popularity. Independents came to Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell because they had something to say. They talked about the issues that they were confronting every single day.

They were concerned about how you leverage what is happening here in Washington with what is going on in my state. You're talking about health care, there is a downward pressure on my economy, in my neighborhood, in my household. So people made this convergence, this connection between the so-called national issues and the kitchen table issues. That's number one.

Number two, the Democratic Party had better pay attention to what the people out here are saying. You can no longer dismiss people by sitting on your cell phone when they're talking to you or calling them un-American or making them feel like you don't give a heck about what they're concerns are.

That's what the voters laid on the table this year. And you walk into 2008 thinking you're going to wrap it all around the president's popularity, call Speaker Boehner Speaker Boehner now, because it's going to happen.

STEPHANOPOULOS: What do you think independents were saying? There is an awful lot of evidence, the polls that I've seen, that they were concerned about the economy and that they were concerned that there -- that the deficit is going to grow and cripple the economy even more in the future.

KAINE: George, what I think independents were saying is what they said in exit polls, which is, in governors' races, they view them as local and state races. They don't nationalize them. Even with the strong independent approval of the president, they said they cast these votes in these state races based on state issues.

But again, all of the races and all of the changes in Congress this year, where they are federalized, we've won five congressional races. Every special election since Inauguration Day in the House has gone to a Democrat, including in some very tough Republican areas.

And we picked up two Senate seats. Chairman Steele and others chased Arlen Specter from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, and we won the recount for Al Franken and he took over Norm Coleman's seat. Every change in the Hill has gone to the Democrats since President Obama came into office. STEELE: And that hasn't made things any better for the American people. So you can tout bringing all of these Democrats to Washington and look what you get. You get a 2,000-page bill with 2,000 reasons to vote against it. You're talking about your...

KAINE: You get GDP growing again for the first time in two years.

STEELE: You talk about a national -- you talk about -- look, that's a blip on the screen. Let's see what happens as we go forward because all of this -- all of this infusion of trillions of trillions of spending by this administration and this Congress comes home to roost.

And you know where it roosts, George? It roosts in the back pockets of small business owners in this country, which this administration has done zip for.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But there was a warning...

KAINE: Now that's complete...

(CROSSTALK)

KAINE: That's completely inaccurate.

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... sign for Republicans...

STEELE: What jobs are small business owners creating right now? We have a 10.2...

KAINE: I'll talk about it. Let me answer it...

STEELE: Excuse me, no. We have...

KAINE: You just asked me a question. Let me answer it.

STEELE: I am going to answer it for you...

STEPHANOPOULOS: That's the question you answered...

(CROSSTALK)

STEELE: We have a 10.2 unemployment rate right now. Where do you think that comes from?

KAINE: Let me answer.

STEELE: That comes from small business owners who can't hire. That comes from small business...

KAINE: OK, now do I get to answer the question?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let him answer the question.

STEELE: No, wait, Governor, you filibustered on the federal stuff. Let me talk about where (ph) the real people are.

KAINE: OK, I'm going to answer. George, I'm a governor.

STEELE: The reality of it is...

KAINE: I am a governor, and we have got small businesses all over...

(CROSSTALK)

KAINE: ... small businesses all over Virginia that are doing infrastructure projects because of this stimulus bill. Water and treatment, water and sewage treatment plants, roads. A great example...

STEELE: A government contract work. That's not creating jobs!

KAINE: Are you kidding me?

STEELE: That's not...

KAINE: Innovation and construction is very, very important to the economy. GDP is growing again...

STEELE: What about the brother on the corner with his...

KAINE: GDP is growing again...

STEELE: ... grocery store?

KAINE: ... for the first time in two years. At the end of the Bush administration, fallen by 6.5 percent a year. Now it's going up by 3.5 percent a year. I know Michael wants to explain it away, but that's a good thing.

(CROSSTALK)

STEPHANOPOULOS: I want to ask Michael Steele about this race up in New York, the special election where Republicans did lose. And that seemed to be a race where Republicans pushed their candidate out of the center, (inaudible), the Democrat, Bill Owens , is a member of Congress today. How concerned are you by this dynamic that seems to be developing not only in that race but a lot of Senate primaries around the country, where conservative candidates are pushing moderates out of the middle?

STEELE: Well, my concern in New York 23 was a process. I mean, it was a failed process from the very beginning. The reality of it is, this was a play to grab a state Senate seat. It wasn't about electing a Republican or a Democrat necessarily to the United States Congress. The local party, 11 county chairmen, made the decision who they wanted. They drew Senator Owens out into the race. He ran, and then that opened up the Senate seat. The reality of it was, it was not a reflection of what the people in that community wanted. You saw the primary eventually played out between the moderate and the conservative Republican in that district... STEPHANOPOULOS: And they elected a Democrat.

STEELE: And they elected a Democrat. And guess what, we'll get the seat back, because this Democrat in the first 24 hours of taking office has broken four of his pledges, first starting by saying he wasn't going to support this monstrosity of a health care bill. The reality of it is, with a better, cleaner process there, where the people actually get to make the choice of who they want and you don't have back-room bosses making those decisions, you'll get the kind of results that will sustain us in that seat.

KAINE: George, let me talk about New York 23, because it is a gift that keeps on giving and it's going to play out forward. The year for the GOP started when the chairman said he was going to come after any Republican that voted for the stimulus. Senator Specter said I'm not going to wait, I'm going to join the Democrats right away. The year is ending with Dede Scozzafava, a Republican elected official that the party unified behind, the party, the DNC and the RCC, gave her $800,000. Then they let right-wing radio and talk show hosts chase her out of the race, with Sarah Palin , and she ended up supporting us. That's the first time I've been happy that they're good fund-raisers.

STEELE: No.

KAINE: She put that money behind our candidate. We won for the first time since 1870 in that district.

STEELE: The reality...

KAINE: And you're seeing the same dynamic play all over the United States.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You got the first word, you get the last word.

STEELE: The reality of it is, you know, hang your hat on that hook. I take the hat back come next November. Your problem right now, Governor, is that you lost New Jersey, you lost Virginia -- your home state. You could not deliver. And the Democrats can't deliver and that's what the American...

KAINE: We delivered in every congressional...

(CROSSTALK)

STEELE: I had the last word, Governor. I had the last word.

(CROSSTALK)

STEELE: You've got to deliver something. And what you delivered is a 2,000-pound baby that nobody wants.