t from Democrats, who charge it would "end Medicare as we know it." The Senate rejected it in a vote last week, but also unanimously struck down an alternative plan proposed by President Obama.  Democrats said they wanted to leave it off the table while Vice President Biden leads a bipartisan group of senators to come up with a new budget that would include cuts in spending that would satisfy lawmakers who don't want to increase the nation's borrowing limit without reducing government's size. "The one thing we can't do is nothing," McConnell said. "The president, to his credit, is at the table. ... We're going to negotiate the contours of the plan in these negotiations. I'm personally very comfortable with the way Paul Ryan would structure it in the out years, but we have a Democratic president. We're going to have to negotiate with him on the terms of changing Medicare so we can save Medicare." Appearing on the same program, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on Republicans to abandon the House Medicare plan, noting an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that says it would require seniors to shoulder an increasingly large share of their health care costs. Schumer said there are only three options -- doing nothing, the Ryan plan or a Democratic vision that preserves benefits and changes "delivery systems," but does "not let providersof speculation then spun around and away into a crowd more eager for autographs than political policies. Palin's bus tour "highlighting America's foundation" will hit historical sites from Washington, D.C. to New Hampshire, home of the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. The fact that Michele Bachmann was in New Hampshire on Monday, that Mitt Romney will announce his presidential campaign there Thursday, that Rudy Giuliani will test the Granite State waters Friday and that Jon Huntsman is spending the weekend there is just a measure of how intense the race has become in the last few weeks. The next GOP presidential primary debate is June 13 in New Hampshire. Palin has not given any indication that she plans to participate. “This is not a campaign bus. This is a bus to express to America how much we appreciate our foundation and to invite more people to be interested about all that is good about America and to remind ourselves we don’t need to fundamentally change America, we need to restore what's good about America," Palin told a sidewalk crowd at her first stop. The bus tour is meant to raise not only Palin's political profile but also money. SarahPAC's web page opens with a new pop up fundraising ad. Palin is a relentless Obama critic, but with the commander in chief presiding over Memorial Day ceremonies, she dialed back the partisanship when asked if she can unseat the incumbent. "I think any Republican candidate is very electable. I think Americans are ready for true change, change to get our country back on the right track," Palin said. At one point on the streets of the nation’s capital, Palin was approached by Don Foley, a D.C. resident, who bluntly told Palin, "I'm a black Republican. I'd like to know what are you're going to do to attract more African-Americans to the Republican Party?" Palin sought common ground on the struggling economy. "Every American is interested in making sure the economy is getting back on the right track jobs are created via the private sector having the freedom to invest and prioritize. Skin color doesn’t matter on that, we all want good jobs," she said. Foley then stated that Democrats "use racism and fear to keep African-Americans away from the GOP" and pushed Palin to prove otherwise. "I would appreciate it if you started really addressing some issues that deal with the African American community as well because we are Americans too." Plain interjected an "amen" and then Foley continued with a reference to th