President Obama today will offer his final stamp of approval on a compromise health care reform measure that Democrats hope can pass Congress in the coming month. Obama yesterday offered an olive branch to Republicans by telling congressional leaders he will include four GOP ideas in his plan.
But Republicans immediately dismissed the ideas and issued scolding statements saying Obama should scrap a year’s worth of work on health care and start over.
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) was first, telling Obama that including his party’s ideas was just “political cover.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the GOP was “disappointed with your latest proposal to simply paper a few of these commonsense proposals over an unsalvageable bill.”
In his letter, McConnell (R-KY) also warned Obama against using the budget reconciliation process to “jam some version of their original bill through Congress and past the American people.”
“Now is not the time to repeat the same mistakes that brought us here,” McConnell wrote.
A White House official said Obama today will say his proposal has the best ideas from both parties.
“He’ll reiterate why reform is so crucial and what it will mean for American families and businesses: they’ll have more control over their own health care, they’ll see lower costs, and they’ll see an end to insurance company abuses,” the official said.
While he may not specifically call for the use of reconciliation to finally pass the plan, Obama will explicitly say a “comprehensive” measure is the only way forward. He’ll urge Congress to move quickly toward final votes, the official said.
The White House is staging the 1:45 event for the formal East Room, and doctors, nurses and health care professionals from around the country will be at his side. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also will attend.
But as congressional leaders attempt to convince House Democrats who voted no on health care last fall to switch and support the final legislation, another event on the Obama schedule today offers more insight into the White House attempts to woo fiscal conservatives.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are hosting a Congressional reception in the White House blue room to thank members for restoring pay-as-you-go rules. Blue Dog Democrats are the most likely switchers that Speaker Nancy Pelosi needs to pass the bill through her chamber.
We don’t have the invite list yet, but you can bet a few of the names Brian mentioned yesterday are likely to be guests of honor.
The Associated Press identified nine conservative Democrats who voted no the first time but now say they are undecided, and makes their votes up for grabs. Pelosi needs every vote she can get, since the bill prevailed with just one vote to spare last fall and she may lose prolife Democrats since abortion language in the measure is not as strong as what passed the House. She also lost several votes with Rep. John Murtha’s death last month and two resignations.
The AP identified as potential switchers: retiring Reps. Brian Baird (D-WA), John Tanner (D-TN), and Bart Gordon (D-TN); freshmen Reps. Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL), Frank Kratovil (D-MD), Scott Murphy (D-NY), Glenn Nye (D-VA), and Michael McMahon (D-NY); and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA).
Congressional leadership has been telling us for weeks that Blue Dogs should vote for the measure, which the Congressional Budget Office scored as a long-term deficit reducer.
