TPMDC
Marathon White House Health Care Meeting Covered 'All Aspects' But No Deal Yet
House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and President Barack Obama
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White House officials tell TPMDC tonight that President Obama and Congressional leaders worked through "all aspects" of the health care bill after more than eight hours of meetings. But they aren't over, and officials say White House staffers will keep meeting with members of Congress in the coming days.
Officials said the members attending were Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Rep. Jim Clyburn, Rep. George Miller, Rep. Charlie Rangel, Rep. Henry Waxman, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Max Baucus, Sen. Chris Dodd, and Sen. Tom Harkin, all Democrats with key roles in the health care negotiations that started this summer and are nearing a conclusion.
Also attending the meeting, which ran from 10:30 a.m. to 6:40 p.m. and included lunch in the Cabinet Room, were White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Legislative Affairs Liaison Phil Schiliro, and health care czar Nancy-Ann DeParle.
The White House said Obama came in and out of the room while monitoring the situation in Haiti, and Vice President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius attended portions of the meeting.
Like most statements that come from the White House, this one cites "progress" being made toward a final deal.
Obama, Pelosi and Reid put out a brief joint statement:
"Today we made significant progress in bridging the remaining gaps between the two health insurance reform bills. We're encouraged and energized, and we're resolved to deliver reform legislation that provides more stability and security for those with insurance, extends coverage to those who don't have coverage, and lowers costs for families, businesses, and governments."
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Walter Mitty
January 13, 2010 10:12 PM
Why are the key senators that will kill the bill not involved? Were is Lieberscum and Nelson and why are they not part of the committee?
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RhodaA
January 14, 2010 8:50 AM in reply to Walter Mitty
Another Question:
It doesn't make sense that Reid would let the NYT article (Lieberman “double-crossed me”) go out before the final 60-threshhold vote, unless there is something else going on where he doesn’t need Lieberman anymore. How else could he take the chance that the snake wouldn’t bite him again? It's really puzzling me. Are they going to change the filibuster rules at the beginning of the new session? Any thoughts?
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mcc
January 13, 2010 11:48 PM
So there's something I'm confused about. Could someone clarify?
A lot of the talk has centered on the idea that the House will allow the excise tax to stay, but put an exception for "collectively bargained" health care plans into the bill. What exactly would this mean?
Specifically, is the plan under consideration that insurance companies would indefinitely be given a tax break on plans sold to unionized companies? Such that unions would basically be able to continue negotiating high-premium insurance plans as they have and insurance companies would be able to price those plans as if the excise tax weren't there?
Or is the idea that existing health care plans over the excise threshold that were negotiated as some sort of group employment contract would be exempt from the tax until those contracts expire? Such that the next time the contract comes up for negotiation the tax would kick in again and the workers would be able to negotiate maybe a lower-cost health plan and higher wages, but in the meantime the workers would not have to have the tax landscape shift under their feet in mid contract?
I've heard people describing plans matching both of these possibilities, and it is not clear to me which kind of proposal that Obama/Pelosi/Grijalva are looking at.
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inokeah
January 14, 2010 12:53 AM
Oh yea, I'v been watching it on C-Span, it is so interesting watching the give and take. You can tell these people are interested in the beterment of our country...
NOT!
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rbe1
January 14, 2010 1:07 PM
It's so nice that Obama is taking interest in the bill at this stage, now that it's been gutted.
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