Harry Reid

Dems Brainstorm For A Way Around Health Care Impasse

Brian Beutler | January 25, 2010, 5:30PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are looking for a solution to the health care conundrum and are facing some tough realities. They know the House won't pass the Senate health care bill unless it can be sure the Senate will act on separate piece of legislation amending a number of its key provisions. And they know that many of these changes--particularly to the tax structure of the Senate bill--would likely only pass by circumventing a filibuster using the so-called budget reconciliation process.

The duo are working through a number of possibilities, including a new idea, floated by several House members, to expedite the reconciliation strategy. But, as always, nothing's as easy as it seems.

"There are obviously a handful of ideas that people are looking at," said a House Democratic aide. "We passed a student loan bill in the House. That's sitting over in the Senate. One idea that has been discussed is to, on that bill, amend it to address the concerns about the Senate [health care] bill, primarily the Cadillac tax, and the Nebraska [Medicaid] deal; have the Senate pass that under reconciliation, have that come back to us, we pass it, and we also vote on the Senate bill."

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Barack Obama

Obama Makes Hard Sell To Liberal, Conservative Democrats On Health Care

Brian Beutler | January 14, 2010, 7:54PM

President Obama

President Barack Obama made a hard sell to House Democrats to support a compromise health care bill, the details of which are finally taking shape. He applauded the work members of Congress have put into creating health care legislation, acknowledged the concessions progressives have been forced to accept, and thanked vulnerable members for casting tough votes during a difficult political year.

According to a Democratic aide, Obama told progressives--bruised over the loss of the public option, and the persistence of the excise--that they could have another crack at the bill in the future.

"This is not the last health care bill ever passed," he said.

"Once we have a final bill, we can really talk about how it's going to help all Americans," Obama told the caucus. "This is something that will last. You'll look back and say this is one of the most significant accomplishments you've ever made."

At one point, Obama turned to members in vulnerable districts, including Reps. Tom Periello (D-VA) and Steve Driehaus (D-OH), to offer his appreciation and support.

"You've had to take tough votes. I understand it. I really appreciate it. The country is better off because of these tough votes you've taken. I want you to know I'm behind you 100 percent."

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Barack Obama

Details Emerge On White House-Labor Health Care Agreement

Brian Beutler | January 14, 2010, 3:23PM

President Barack Obama

The Obama administration and organized labor have reached a tentative agreement on the so-called Cadillac tax on high end health insurance plans, signaling that Democrats may soon be able to resolve their differences over how to finance health care reform.

Unions had opposed the measure, which, as originally designed, would have imposed a 40 percent excise tax on insurance policies that cost more than $23,000 for families, and $8,500 for individuals, indexed just above inflation.

Under the terms of the proposed deal, the threshold for families would be raised to $24,000, and would exempt certain benefits like vision and dental, according to a Democratic source.

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Robert Andrews

Silver Bullet? Key Congressman Says Dems Can Build A Majority With Excise-Tax Exemptions

Brian Beutler | January 13, 2010, 6:23PM

Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ).

The big hurdle between Democrats and success on health care reform bill is the question of whether the wealthy Americans will pay for the cost of the bill, or whether some middle class Americans will pay some of the price through an excise tax on high-end employer health care benefits. Now, one leading House Democrat says that the seeds of a solution may have been planted.

As I first reported yesterday, one idea gaining traction in negotiations between Congressional leaders, union officials, and the White House is that collectively bargained benefit plans could be exempted from the tax. According to Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ), who chairs the health subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee, that could be enough to build a majority for health care reform.

"It would be a way to lessen impact of the so-called excise tax," Andrews said. "I think we could build a consensus around that idea--a majority around that idea."

There are other ways to mitigate the impact of the tax, too. And the revenue lost by modifying it would have to be replaced by new sources. But it's becoming more clear this is the route Democrats are going to have to take to reach accord on the big outstanding issue in health care reform.

Cadillac Tax

Grijalva On Exempting Union Health Benefits From Tax: Close, But Not Enough

Brian Beutler | January 12, 2010, 7:46PM

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)

This morning, I reported that leading labor officials and the White House had discussed the possibility of exempting collectively bargained health care benefits from a proposed tax on high-end insurance policies as a potential concession to secure union support for health care reform.

This evening, in an interview, Rep. Raul Grijalva--the influential co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus--confirmed that the idea, though nascent, is indeed on the table. But though he believes the potential compromise is a step in the right direction, it's still not enough to secure passage of a final bill in the House, where the so-called "Cadillac tax" remains extremely unpopular.

"Given the precedent of fire fighters and police, If there is a collectively bargained agreement on health care that that would be exempt: it's a good step, but it still does not deal with the reality [that] we're dealing with," Grijalva told me. "As much as it's an important gesture to labor, particularly the trades, it continues to be a problem about: [number one] how you're going to administer that...number two I still think we're still dealing with a fundamental problem of creating a real class conflict here between those people that are having to pay, through their taxes, health benefits for those people that have none."

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Health Care

What'll It Take? Obama Woos Labor Over Controversial Health Care Tax

Brian Beutler | January 12, 2010, 2:11PM

President Barack Obama

Last night, Obama administration officials, and the President himself, met with the most influential leaders in organized labor to brainstorm ways to fix to a controversial provision in congressional health care legislation, roundly opposed by unions. And it appears the White House is trying to hit the right notes to keep its fragile alliance with unions alive.

At issue is whether there's any way to square the administration's support for a tax on high-end health care plans--a major source of funds--with the concern, articulated by myriad progressives and union officials, that the tax will impact many middle class Americans, and ultimately ensnare more and more of them.

"My understanding it was really discussions surrounding policy fixes that could, to at least try to delay the impact and look at maybe raising the threshold a little more," said one top labor official briefed on the meeting.

"Secretary Sebelius was there for part of the discussion," the official went on. "They are exploring, at least, some modifications that might take into account some collectively bargained plans, maybe trying to tie some exclusion for plans that are covered by a collective bargaining agreement."

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Health Care

Firefighters Rip Obama For Breaking Campaign Promise Over Cadillac Tax

Brian Beutler | January 11, 2010, 6:30PM

President Barack Obama

The International Association of Fire Fighters--an influential union that belongs to the AFL-CIO--has released the strongest condemnation yet of President Obama's support for taxing high-end health insurance plans as a means of financing a major health care overhaul--accusing him of breaking a campaign promise, and threatening to hold him accountable.

"If candidates make a promise to us, we hold them accountable. We held President Bush accountable when he made decisions that had a negative impact on our members' jobs and lives. We will do the same with President Obama," reads a statement from IAFF President Harold Schaitberger. "In 2008, then-candidate Obama promised three things: he said he would not raise taxes on folks making less than $250,000 a year; he vowed not to tax health insurance benefits; and he promised that under his health reform plan, people would be able to keep their existing coverage."

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Richard Trumka

Trumka Blames The Senate, Republicans And Some Democrats For Controversial Health Care Tax

Brian Beutler | January 11, 2010, 1:00PM

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President

Speaking at the National Press Club this afternoon, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka blasted a controversial provision in the Senate health care bill, which would impose a stiff tax on high-end health care plans--a penalty that would impact many middle class workers and union members. From the prepared remarks: "[T]hanks to the Senate rules, the appalling irresponsibility of the Senate Republicans and the power of the wealthy among some Democrats, the Senate bill instead drives a wedge between the middle class and the poor."

The bill rightly seeks to ensure that most Americans have health insurance. But instead of taxing the rich, the Senate bill taxes the middle class by taxing workers' health plans--not just union members' health care; most of the 31 million insured employees who would be hit by the excise tax are not union members.

The tax on benefits in the Senate bill pits working Americans who need health care for their families against working Americans struggling to keep health care for their families. This is a policy designed to benefit elites--in this case, insurers, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and irresponsible employers, at the expense of the broader public. It's the same tragic pattern that got us where we are today, and I can assure you the labor movement is fighting with everything we've got to win health care reform that is worthy of the support of working men and women.

Complicating things for labor is the fact that President Obama supports the excise tax. Neverthless,Trumka will no doubt be making this argument to Obama himself this afternoon at a White House gathering of labor officials.

You can read the complete transcript of Trumka's remarks below.

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House of Representatives

Democrats Hope To Seal The Deal On Health Care This Week

Brian Beutler | January 11, 2010, 9:32AM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Democrats will have to make significant progress this week toward reaching an agreement on the shape of House-Senate health care legislation if they hope to hand President Obama a bill to sign before his State of the Union speech, tentatively scheduled for early February.

And that means they'll have to reach a number of compromises on everything from the implementation date of major reforms, to the structure of insurance markets, to, most crucially, how to pay for near-universal health care.

The question of how to generate new revenue has split House and Senate Democrats and has driven a wedge between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the administration, which supports the Senate's plan: an excise tax on high-cost health care plans. For months, the White House's chief focus in the health care reform fight has been making sure the 60 members of the Senate Democratic caucus stay united behind the plan--and that means they're not giving Pelosi, who has greater margin for error and more control over her own caucus, much leeway to secure her priorities.

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House of Representatives

Latest Health Care Flashpoint Strains Relationships Among Democrats

Brian Beutler | January 8, 2010, 1:17PM

President Barack Obama and Rahm Emmanuel

Last year's health care debate was dominated by a bruising--and ultimately losing--fight over the public option. But simmering on the back burner for weeks while the public option ran its course has been a battle among Democrats over how to pay for health care reform. And now, with the public option swept into the dustbin, the fight over taxes has come to the fore, and is testing relationships all the way up the Democratic ladder to party leadership and the White House.

At issue is whether expanding insurance coverage to over 30 million Americans should be paid for by wealthy Americans (as the House would like), or, as the Senate calls for, by people who have expensive health care plans--many of whom are middle class. The vast majority of House Democrats--and the public at large--oppose the Senate proposal. But the idea has one powerful ally: President Obama.

"The polling just hasn't moved an inch," Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) told me. Recent data indicates that the public opposes the Senate's so-called "Cadillac tax" plan by a two-to-one margin. "Frankly, it's the same polling that was there when Obama went after McCain on this."

According to Courtney many in the House believe that, after sacrificing the public option, Democrats should draw a line in the sand over the excise tax--including one Democratic leader.

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Health Care

House Democrats Press Leadership On Health Care Bill

Brian Beutler | January 7, 2010, 4:40PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

During a nearly two hour caucus conference call this afternoon, rank and file Democrats sought answers from their leadership about the state of ongoing House, White House health care negotiations. But they may not get concrete responses until the caucus meets again next week, or, failing that, until President Obama huddles with members at the Democrats' issue conference next week at Fort McNair.

"The questions were about national exchanges, about the public option, about the Cadillac plans, about consumer protection, about insurance reform," said Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, and one of the chief authors of the House health care bill. "We told them what things the staff had started to discuss or haven't discussed yet."

According to a House leadership aide, members chief concerns on the call regarded a familiar array of issues. "Many members raised concerns about excise tax (in opposition to it)," the aide said. State exchanges came up -- many Members want a national exchange. Several spoke up also in favor of anti-trust exemption (repealing it) and keeping in place strong insurance reforms."

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Barack Obama

Top House Progressive Says Obama Is Violating Campaign Pledge

Brian Beutler | January 7, 2010, 3:16PM

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)

House Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) has a number of issues with President Obama. But chief among them seems to be that, though they've stayed silent on a whole host of health care issues, they've thrown their weight behind a controversial tax in the Senate bill--one that Grijalva says violates Obama's solemn campaign pledge not to raise taxes on the middle class.

I asked Grijalva whether the White House's support for the Senate health care bill's excise tax on so-called "Cadillac" insurance policies is compatible with his promise on the campaign.

"No, it's not," Grijalva said.

Grijalva noted that, though the tax applies to very expensive insurance policies, many of the people who benefit from those policies are squarely in the middle class, adding that insurance companies will shift the burden to people who have less generous plans.

It sets up a situation, Grijalva said, where the middle class is subsidizing poor people. "You're building a class conflict that doesn't need to happen," he said.

Given Obama's campaign stance, it also creates political problems, including for rank-and-file Democrats.

"We've got to go back every two years," Grijalva told me. "We've got to explain this bill now and at election time."