COOPER: The "Raw Politics" of health is heating up in the Senate. Just before air last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced a group of ten liberal and conservative Democrats had reached a deal to replace the hotly-debated public option with a package of alternatives.

Senator Reid offered few details, but today, President Obama praised the emerging compromise.

Now, the public plan deal came just hours after the Senate killed a controversial amendment to restrict abortion coverage in its health- care bill to ensure that no federal funds go toward covering any kind of abortion in this new form.

Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson had introduced that amendment. He called it a deal breaker. He's also one of the ten senators who hammered out the deal to drop the public plan.

Senator Nelson joins me now.

Senator, your abortion amendment failed. So to be clear, as this bill stands right now that you've been working on, do you support it?

SEN. BEN NELSON (D), NEBRASKA: Well, I certainly can't support it. My position hasn't changed. But what I am hoping we will do is that the principle of the House version of the language can be achieved by other language.

COOPER: The House version is the Stupak Amendment, just for those who haven't been following? NELSON: Exactly. The principle is there. This language was turned down by the Senate on a vote to table. The question is, is there another way to word the language that will be successful? So many people are trying to explore that. I don't know whether that's possible, but my position hasn't changed.

COOPER: So unless there's some sort of a new compromise with new language which meets your requirements on the abortion issue and funding for it, this is a deal-breaker still for you? You will not support this legislation?

NELSON: My position hasn't changed. I stated it early on, and that's still my position.

COOPER: It -- there are a lot of Democrats who say, "Look, the Hyde Amendment makes sure that no federal money will be used to fund abortion. And that even without the language that you wanted, that will stay," that if there is a plan that does offer to cover abortion, the way it will be structured is that only the private money that an individual puts into that plan would be used to fund that procedure, not any of the federal amendment -- not any of the federal money. You don't buy that?

NELSON: Well, the devil is in the details in how the money is accounted for. Right now, under the current bill, the language would give it to the -- to the secretary of HHS to determine whether the money is being counted for separately and could make certain decisions that I think should -- would really exceed what any of us would expect.

COOPER: As you well know, liberal Democrats are upset. They say that health-care reform without a public option really isn't health- care reform. How do you respond?

NELSON: Well, I don't agree with that at all. As a matter of fact, what we've tried to do is make sure that we extend the private markets wherever possible and allow the states to have a great deal of latitude to be -- be able to deal with this. Relaxing some of the regulations that would permit companies to cross state lines and states to enter into interstate compacts to facilitate the delivery of the insurance product across state lines.

People have been asking for it; this would do t.

COOPER: We've been looking at the votes on the Democratic side. By our calculations and what we're hearing from the White House and what we're reporting by Dana Bash, the crucial votes are you, Senator Olympia Snowe, and Senator Joe Lieberman.

Now, Democrats need any two out of these three. Senator Lieberman seems cautiously supportive of what's on the table, so assuming he's a yes vote and Senator Snowe is a no, that leaves it all up to you. Are you worried about being labeled the Democrat who killed health-care reform?

NELSON: Well, or who insisted on the most appropriate way of doing it. And keep in mind, that -- that vote isn't necessarily the only way to go. There is still reconciliation. And a 51, a simple majority threshold.

So, I wouldn't be the one that killed thresh -- killed health- care reform at all. I -- it would maybe force it into another plan, another way to go about doing it. But we could also bring it back, and we could -- we could make those adjustments that I've asked for.

So I think that it's not fair to say that any one of us would kill health-care reform. What we are seeking is to get it in the best shape that we can possibly have it, and I hope that that's possible.

COOPER: Senator Ben Nelson, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

NELSON: Thank you, Anderson.