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President Calls for Swift Action on Health Reform after Bipartisan MeetingOn Wednesday, March 3, President Obama called on Congress to pass final health reform bill and send it to him for his signature in the “next few weeks.” During his remarks the president acknowledged that Republicans were not likely to support his call to action. He rejected calls from some Republican in Congress to scrap the current proposals and start from scratch, thus signaling support for Democrats to use a procedural move know as “reconciliation,” which would allow the Senate to pass the proposal by a simple majority instead of the filibuster-proof 60 vote majority they have had to employ for several previous health reform-related votes. The bipartisan day-long meeting on health reform hosted by the president on February 25 gave the public a chance to hear from both parties in both Houses of Congress about their positions on the president’s new proposal and the proposals that passed the House and Senate last year. While there appeared to be little progress on coming to a bipartisan consensus on health reform legislation, President Obama issued a letter to House and Senate leaders identifying potential areas of common ground as well as major differences between the parties. Specifically, the letter highlighted four proposals from Republicans at the meeting that the president is interested in exploring. You can read the entire letter here. Given the president’s remarks, it is most likely that Democrats will try to move forward, assuming little to no Republican support for their proposals, using the reconciliation process. The health reform legislation used in this process would likely closely resemble the health reform proposal released by President Obama shortly before the bipartisan meeting (see link below). One scenario being discussed would have the House pass the Senate bill with a guarantee in the form of a letter from 51 Senate Democrats assuring the House that the Senate would make agreed-upon fixes to its original legislation. The final product would likely be a proposal that closely follows the bill passed by the Senate with some tweaks aimed at gaining support from House liberals and as well as some Republican supported provisions. The president’s proposal is here. LHDs can help put the health back into health reform by sending a letter to an editor of a local newspaper or other media outlet. NACCHO has created a simple way for you to send letters to your local media. Click here to start » |
© 2010 – Association of Ohio Health Commissioners
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