Report: White House Drafting its Own Health Care Bill

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a town hall meeting on healthcare at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee August 20, 2009 in Washington. UPI/Alex Wong/Pool
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

We know that the White House has been in deep health care negotiations with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), who they hope will be the 60th vote needed to overcome a filibuster. Now, it seems, the administration is drafting its own legislation–presumably influenced by those negotiations–to be introduced sometime after the President’s health care speech, to be delivered Wednesday before a joint session of Congress.

According to CNN:

Multiple sources close to the process [say] that while the plan is uncertain, they are preparing for the possibility they could deliver their own legislation to Capitol Hill sometime after the President Barack Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress Wednesday.

As always, it’s worth cautioning that the situation is fluid. But as I noted earlier, the White House’s preference seems to be to work with Snowe to craft a bill that can squeak by in the Senate. That package–which will presumably lack a robust public option, or will attach it to a trigger–will have to be sold to House progressives, who have loudly objected to the idea of compromising on that point.

For more on the menu of options before the White House, see here.

Latest DC
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: