Obama Presses Senators to Defy Past by Voting for Health Bill
By Kristin Jensen and Laura Litvan
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama and top Democrats said they are on the verge of passing the most sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health-care system in four decades after making last-minute changes to win over holdouts.
“We are on the precipice of an achievement that’s eluded Congresses and presidents for generations,” Obama said yesterday after meeting with Senate Democrats. The bill includes “the most significant reforms to our health-care system since the passage of Medicare.”
Senator Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Independent whose support is crucial because Republicans are united in opposition, said he’s ready to back the bill as long as two provisions are dropped -- a plan to expand Medicare and to set up a new government insurer. Democrats are poised to oblige him and other lawmakers who voiced misgivings about those ideas.
Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat who heads the health committee, said Lieberman’s support leaves just one Democratic holdout -- Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson. “But he’ll be good,” Harkin said.
The 10-year $848 billion Senate plan is designed to cover 31 million uninsured Americans and curb medical expenses. Like a measure passed Nov. 7 by the U.S. House, the bill would require Americans to get health coverage, offering expanded government aid for the poor and creating online insurance-purchasing exchanges to help the uninsured buy policies.
Christmas Passage?
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, predicted the chamber would pass the bill by Christmas. Before that happens, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will need to round up all 60 votes controlled by Democrats to overcome procedural hurdles that will be thrown up by Republicans.
The 60 votes aren’t a lock. Proponents of a new government- run insurance program, or public option, will have to be placated now that it’s being removed from the legislation. Nelson is concerned about whether federal subsidies might go toward abortion, and a number of senators say they can’t support anything until they’ve seen the language.
“The strange nature of this process is we’re being urged to vote for something, but we don’t know the details of what’s in it,” Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, a Democrat who’s expressed concern about the legislation, told reporters yesterday.
Drug Importation
Democrats resolved one issue splitting the party yesterday when the Senate voted against an amendment to allow the importation of cheaper medicines from Canada and other nations. Drugmakers, who have supported the overhaul, opposed the amendment, as did Democratic senators from New Jersey and Delaware, both home to major pharmaceutical operations.
The party also has been divided over how best to cover uninsured Americans, with many liberal Democrats pushing for the public option to compete with private insurers. Another proposal would have let people as young as age 55 enroll in Medicare, the federal insurance program for people age 65 and older.
Lacking the votes for either idea, Senate Democrats said on Dec. 14 they were moving toward dropping them. Obama said he told senators, “we simply cannot allow differences over individual elements of this plan to prevent us from meeting our responsibility to solve a longstanding and urgent problem.”
‘We Can Do Better’
Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, said he will continue to fight for the Medicare buy-in as the legislation moves on and said he appealed to Lieberman to drop his opposition during a meeting with the president.
“We’re not giving up,” Brown said. While Brown said he plans to vote for the bill, he said, “we can do better.”
After passage, the Senate measure would have to be reconciled with a version approved by the House on Nov. 7. There are significant differences.
The House bill has a public option, the original goal of Democratic leaders. The Senate pays for its measure in part with a tax on high-end insurance plans; the House opted for a surtax on millionaires.
“We’ll have to figure out what the Senate can pass and we’ll have a look at it,” House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland told reporters yesterday.
Republicans say both versions might crowd out private insurers, raise taxes and widen the federal budget deficit.
Republican Votes
The two Republicans seen as most likely to vote with Democrats -- Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine -- said they want greater efforts to boost affordability of insurance premiums for lower-income Americans and added help for small businesses.
Snowe, who met with Reid yesterday, said even if adjustments are made she wants time to review final legislation and doesn’t want to be pushed to decide before early next year.
“There’s a lot of magic about Christmas, but what isn’t magic is the deadline of Christmas,” Snowe said.
Obama said yesterday that disagreements still need to be “ironed out” while voicing confidence for passage. Senators leaving the meeting agreed with the president’s assessment, as did Collins earlier in the day. She said she was working to amend the bill even though she probably wouldn’t support it.
“I think something is going to pass and I’d like to make that bill as good as possible,” Collins told reporters.
To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net; Kristin Jensen in Washington at kjensen@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: December 16, 2009 00:01 EST |
