White House Heaps Praise On Sen. Lincoln's Contributions To Health Care

The White House is going for the attract 'em with honey strategy, heaping praise on some of the holdouts in the battle to get a health care reform bill passed.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln has been "and important and constructive player in this process and has made this a much better bill in this process," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said when asked on a conference call about where the conservative senator is leaning.

"She was a stalwart in working to protect seniors and taxpayers," White House health care czar Nancy-Ann DeParle chimed in.

They each said Lincoln (D-AR) was instrumental in improving the early version of the bill when it was clearing the Senate Finance Committee.

DeParle said Lincoln "was up there fighting" to get the Elder Justice Act included in the bill and said she saved taxpayers $600 million by capping tax deductions for CEO pay.

"That is huge that she got it in the bill," DeParle said.

Pfeiffer said he hopes Lincoln votes to move the bill forward this weekend, but said he deferred to the her to announce her intentions when she's ready.

"Clearly we need every vote we can get to pass this forward," he said, adding the bill has "very good" things for her Arkansas constituents.

DeParle said she plans to call Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) today to talk about his criticism. He is "on my call sheet for today," she said. "He's been a leader among the governors in working with us in partnership."

She thanked governors for their concerns about unfunded mandates.

"Their efforts here are truly important - we want to lower their costs and we think we will lower their costs," she said.

Pfeiffer told reporters he is "very confident" the measure will pass and land on Obama's desk, and said both the House and Senate bills meet the president's broad goals for health care.