Obama Pushes Senate as Health-care Focus Turns to Finance Panel
The Senate Finance Committee, which is seeking a bipartisan compromise, has failed to reach an agreement even as two House committees and a Senate panel cleared their versions of the legislation with only Democratic approval. Chairman Max Baucus said a deal will come this week at the earliest, a month after he had planned to finish a draft and get a panel vote.
Obama and Democratic leaders are meeting resistance from both Republicans and members of their own party over the more than $1 trillion cost of the legislation and how it would extend insurance coverage. Its unlikely they can pass a measure without bringing around some skeptics, making Baucuss effort to reach out to Republicans all the more critical.
“It needs to be on a bipartisan basis,” said Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat who met with Obama at the White House on July 16. “If we work though this process over the next couple of weeks, its possible that we could get something done.”
Obama, who has placed the issue at the top of his agenda, said failure isnt an option. “We will reform health care,” he told reporters at the White House on July 17. “It will happen this year.”
As part of his attempt to win over self-described moderates, Obama also summoned Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, a Republican on the finance panel, for a White House meeting. Both Snowe and Nelson said they told Obama the Senate may not be able to reach his goal of passing a measure by August, a sentiment shared by at least four other senators whose support the president needs.
Wont Commit
“Im not going to commit to anything until Ive seen everything,” Nelson said in an interview.
Nelson isnt the only Democrat getting special attention from Obama. The presidents former campaign organization, now under the Democratic National Committee as Organizing for America, announced plans for an advertising campaign aimed at pressuring senators in Arkansas, Indiana, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, North Dakota, Nebraska and Ohio.
Those states are home to Democrats including Evan Bayh of Indiana, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, who are often swing votes. The ads drew the ire of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who called it “a waste of money” to attack fellow Democrats.
At Work Today
Baucuss committee will begin talks again today. The House Energy and Commerce panel is continuing debate on its portion of a 1,018-page measure unveiled by House leaders on July 14; the panel plans to finish its work this week as long as it can contain a potential rebellion from Democrats over cost.
That falls short of Obamas pledge to ensure that any changes do not add to the budget deficit.
Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat on the commerce panel, told reporters on July 17 that Chairman Henry Waxman probably doesnt have enough votes to pass the measure. “Why would you give more money to a broken system?” he asked.
The two other House committees with jurisdiction over health care — Education and Labor and Ways and Means –cleared their versions on July 17 without Republican support. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee passed its plan on a party-line vote on July 15.
Both the Senate health committee and House versions contain provisions that have been sticking points in the finance panel.
Public Plan
Each creates a public insurance plan to compete with companies such as Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Indianapolis, Indiana-based WellPoint Inc. Each includes a mandate on many employers to either cover their employees or pay a penalty.
The Senate and House are split on biotechnology medicines. Under the Senate health panels version, biotech companies such as Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen Inc. and Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen Idec Inc. wouldnt face generic competition for 12 years after a medicine is sold.