By Alex Wayne CQ Staff
President Obama faces a momentous week for his health care overhaul.House Democratic leaders move toward a face-off with moderates in their caucus over that chambers proposal and members of a key Senate committee are expected to produce a bipartisan alternative plan.
Two House committees have already approved legislation (HR 3200) which Obama supports that is intended to expand health insurance coverage and reduce health care costs. But a third committee Energy and Commerce will be debating the measure at least into the middle of the week.
And a handful of moderate Democrats on that panel members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition have signaled they are not afraid to vote with Republicans and force major changes on the legislation or stop it entirely if their concerns are not satisfied.
Theres no doubt in my mind that if the Blue Dogs join with the Republicans they can bring this bill down" said Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry A. Waxman D-Calif.
Senate Bipartisan Legislation
In the Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus D-Mont. said at the end of last week that he was very close" to an agreement on bipartisan legislation with a core group of his committees members including Republicans Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine. Obama and Senate Democratic leaders have pressured Baucus to finish his bill rapidly; the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee has already reported its own partisan version of the legislation.
Snowe and five other centrist senators sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nevada. and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell R-Ky. on Friday asking them to have patience while Finance finishes its bill.
While we are committed to providing relief for American families as quickly as possible we believe taking additional time to achieve a bipartisan result is critical for legislation that affects 17 percent of our economy and every individual in the U.S." they wrote.
Reid wants the Senate to pass a bill before its August recess.
When two House committees Education and Labor and Ways and Means considered the Democratic health care legislation last week Blue Dogs on those panels voted against it but the moderate caucus is not well represented on those panels and could not stop the legislation from advancing.
The situation is different on Energy and Commerce where eight Democrats are Blue Dogs. If they and the Republicans voted as a bloc they would hold a 31-28 majority.
So behind the scenes a fight for the Blue Dogs votes is under way. Republicans won a small victory Friday when on the first recorded vote of the committees markup seven Democrats all but one Blue Dogs voted with the GOP to adopt an amendment by John Sullivan R-Okla. aimed at preventing the legislation from creating duplicates of current government health programs.
After the vote Waxman asked the Blue Dogs if they intended the vote as a statement. Waxman said they told him they did not; rather they simply thought Sullivans amendment was meritorious.
Still leaders on both sides got the message: Blue Dogs votes are up for grabs.
Preliminary indications are that they agree with many of the positions our side has" said Nathan Deal R-Ga. He said Republicans on the committee had talked with the Blue Dogs about the areas in which they might agree as had their staffs and that efforts will be made to draft amendments in such a way that theyll vote with us on those amendments."
The Sullivan amendment though was insignificant compared with the votes the committee will take this week including one on the controversial government-run public plan" that the Democratic legislation would create to compete with private insurers.
Blue Dogs have said they want significant restrictions on that plan which insurers and business groups oppose. No Republican in Congress has expressed support for Democrats version of the idea.
Deal said he expected an amendment from Republicans that would strip the public plan from the bill. If Blue Dogs do not go for that Republicans would likely support a Blue Dog amendment that would create a trigger" for the public plan preventing it from operating unless an overhaul of the private insurance market fails and many people are unable to find affordable coverage.
Waxman has already promised changes to the bill to satisfy some of the Blue Dogs concerns including provisions in a managers amendment he has offered that would grant the secretary of Health and Human Services wide latitude to expand experimental programs aimed at reducing health costs. He said Friday that he continued to talk with the group about other possible changes.
CBO Directors Outlook
A sticking point developed late last week when Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf told the Senate Budget Committee that neither the House bill nor the Senate HELP bill would significantly slow the long-term growth of health costs and would likely increase federal health care spending.
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. D-N.J. chairman of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee said House Democrats were open to modifying their measure. We need to get input both from Republicans as well as Blue Dogs . . . and as much as possible incorporate ideas from both" he said.
But an outstanding question is whether the Blue Dogs would team with Republicans to sink the legislation entirely. Waxman and Pallone are both doubtful. I think that it would be such a mistake for any group of Democrats to bring down this legislation and give the president a defeat especially those in marginal districts" Waxman said. They are the ones who will pay a political price when voters get angry that Congress hasnt responded to their health care concerns."
By Alex Wayne CQ Staff
President Obama faces a momentous week for his health care overhaul.House Democratic leaders move toward a face-off with moderates in their caucus over that chambers proposal and members of a key Senate committee are expected to produce a bipartisan alternative plan.
Two House committees have already approved legislation (HR 3200) which Obama supports that is intended to expand health insurance coverage and reduce health care costs. But a third committee Energy and Commerce will be debating the measure at least into the middle of the week.
And a handful of moderate Democrats on that panel members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition have signaled they are not afraid to vote with Republicans and force major changes on the legislation or stop it entirely if their concerns are not satisfied.
Theres no doubt in my mind that if the Blue Dogs join with the Republicans they can bring this bill down" said Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry A. Waxman D-Calif.
Senate Bipartisan Legislation
In the Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus D-Mont. said at the end of last week that he was very close" to an agreement on bipartisan legislation with a core group of his committees members including Republicans Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine. Obama and Senate Democratic leaders have pressured Baucus to finish his bill rapidly; the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee has already reported its own partisan version of the legislation.
Snowe and five other centrist senators sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nevada. and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell R-Ky. on Friday asking them to have patience while Finance finishes its bill.
While we are committed to providing relief for American families as quickly as possible we believe taking additional time to achieve a bipartisan result is critical for legislation that affects 17 percent of our economy and every individual in the U.S." they wrote.
Reid wants the Senate to pass a bill before its August recess.
When two House committees Education and Labor and Ways and Means considered the Democratic health care legislation last week Blue Dogs on those panels voted against it but the moderate caucus is not well represented on those panels and could not stop the legislation from advancing.
The situation is different on Energy and Commerce where eight Democrats are Blue Dogs. If they and the Republicans voted as a bloc they would hold a 31-28 majority.
So behind the scenes a fight for the Blue Dogs votes is under way. Republicans won a small victory Friday when on the first recorded vote of the committees markup seven Democrats all but one Blue Dogs voted with the GOP to adopt an amendment by John Sullivan R-Okla. aimed at preventing the legislation from creating duplicates of current government health programs.
After the vote Waxman asked the Blue Dogs if they intended the vote as a statement. Waxman said they told him they did not; rather they simply thought Sullivans amendment was meritorious.
Still leaders on both sides got the message: Blue Dogs votes are up for grabs.
Preliminary indications are that they agree with many of the positions our side has" said Nathan Deal R-Ga. He said Republicans on the committee had talked with the Blue Dogs about the areas in which they might agree as had their staffs and that efforts will be made to draft amendments in such a way that theyll vote with us on those amendments."
The Sullivan amendment though was insignificant compared with the votes the committee will take this week including one on the controversial government-run public plan" that the Democratic legislation would create to compete with private insurers.
Blue Dogs have said they want significant restrictions on that plan which insurers and business groups oppose. No Republican in Congress has expressed support for Democrats version of the idea.
Deal said he expected an amendment from Republicans that would strip the public plan from the bill. If Blue Dogs do not go for that Republicans would likely support a Blue Dog amendment that would create a trigger" for the public plan preventing it from operating unless an overhaul of the private insurance market fails and many people are unable to find affordable coverage.
Waxman has already promised changes to the bill to satisfy some of the Blue Dogs concerns including provisions in a managers amendment he has offered that would grant the secretary of Health and Human Services wide latitude to expand experimental programs aimed at reducing health costs. He said Friday that he continued to talk with the group about other possible changes.
CBO Directors Outlook
A sticking point developed late last week when Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf told the Senate Budget Committee that neither the House bill nor the Senate HELP bill would significantly slow the long-term growth of health costs and would likely increase federal health care spending.
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. D-N.J. chairman of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee said House Democrats were open to modifying their measure. We need to get input both from Republicans as well as Blue Dogs . . . and as much as possible incorporate ideas from both" he said.
But an outstanding question is whether the Blue Dogs would team with Republicans to sink the legislation entirely. Waxman and Pallone are both doubtful. I think that it would be such a mistake for any group of Democrats to bring down this legislation and give the president a defeat especially those in marginal districts" Waxman said. They are the ones who will pay a political price when voters get angry that Congress hasnt responded to their health care concerns."
