Well, it looks like the White House is finally weighing in on the nuts and bolts of healthcare reform. This NYT piece quotes one anonymous Congressional source as saying, “We have not been consulted. This is very much a White House proposal.”
WASHINGTON — President Obama will put forward comprehensive health care legislation intended to bridge differences between Senate and House Democrats ahead of a summit meeting with Republicans next week, senior administration officials and Congressional aides said Thursday.
Democratic officials said the president’s proposal was being written so that it could be attached to a budget bill as a way of averting a Republican filibuster in the Senate. The procedure, known as budget reconciliation, would let Democrats advance the bill with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote supermajority.
Congressional Democrats, however, have not yet seen the proposal or signed on.
[...] “It will be a reconciliation bill,” one Democratic aide said. “If Republicans don’t come with any substantial offers, this is what we would do.”
Here's what I don't get: The Senate version of the bill is a Republican bill. Am I right? So how much more Republican does Obama want this bill to be, and to what end? No matter what, Republicans aren't going to be happy.
And if this bill gets any more Republican, voters aren't going to be happy. Remember those polls that said voters were opposed to the healthcare bill? A substantial number were upset because the bill didn't go far enough.
