But Democratic Congressional sources say privately that it will be difficult to meet Mr. Obama’s deadline. Many senators and representatives who originally voted for the bills lost their zeal as the political climate in the past two months shifted against the reforms.
Mr. Obama’s plan is for the House to adopt the Senate’s bill, and then for both chambers to use the reconciliation process to approve a measure smoothing over substantial differences between the original House and Senate versions.
The reconciliation process, typically used for budget bills, would prevent Republicans from launching a filibuster now that Senate Democrats have lost their 60-vote majority.
Mr. Obama is moving into campaign-mode to take the reform bill directly to the American people. He held a Rose Garden event and plans events in Missouri and Pennsylvania next week.
“I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on health care reform,” he said.
Republicans say public won’t be persuaded
Republicans, however, argue that the public has unequivocally rejected the Democrats’ bill. “They’re making a vigorous effort to try to jam this down the throats of the American people, who don’t want it,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), whose ideas for changing the reform bill at last week’s reform forum were cited by Mr. Obama, opposed the president’s plans.
“The flawed Medicaid policy in the Senate bill is a disgrace for everyone who needs access to healthcare because it gives 15 million people a false promise by putting them in Medicaid, where they’ll face challenges finding providers who will see them,” he said in a statement on his Web site.
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) rejected Mr. Obama’s plans to incorporate GOP ideas from the summit into the Democrats’ bill.
“There is no reason to lump sensible proposals into a fundamentally-flawed 2,000-page bill with taxpayer funding for abortion and more than 150 new federal programs, boards and commissions that put bureaucrats between patients and their doctors,” Mr. Boehner wrote in his official response.
AMA weighs in
The AMA, meanwhile, released a statement reiterating its call for health reform. “The problems that are plaguing our healthcare system are very real, and they are hurting patients and physicians,” it said. “The AMA is calling on Congress to pass common sense reforms that ensure patients have access to high-quality healthcare and affordable insurance coverage.”
The AMA praised Mr. Obama’s plans to fund state studies on tort reform but implored Congress to permanently remove the automatic Medicare fee cut for physicians, which lawmakers still prefer patching with short-term fixes.
Read the New York Times’ report on health reform.
