Leaders Say Health Bill Progressing as Obama Prepares His Speech

Democratic congressional leaders said after meeting with President Obama on Tuesday that they were making progress on a health care compromise, despite a rough and tumble August recess that saw their proposal come under furious fire from critics.

Senate Majority Leader Harry ReidSenate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy Pelosi, D-Calif., emerged from a one-hour meeting with Obama and Vice President Joseph R. BidenJoseph R. Biden Jr. proclaiming themselves "re-energized" and ready to press forward on the president's top domestic priority.

But the difficulties they face were evident in their remarks. Pelosi reiterated that the House will not pass a health care bill -- at least initially -- unless it includes a public option among the plans to be made available to millions of individuals and small businesses. That is a core demand of liberals in her chamber.

Republicans in both chambers and many moderate-to-conservative Democrats oppose inclusion of such an option, and Reid was careful not to go beyond stating his personal support for the idea.

Instead, he again stressed Senate Democrats were "approaching this in the form of bipartisanship."

"We still, after all these months, have a place at the table for the Republicans, and we're going to do everything we can to work with them. We want a bipartisan bill," Reid said.

"We do not want to do reconciliation unless we have no alternative," he added, referring to a fast-track process that allows certain budget-related legislation to pass the Senate by a simple majority vote instead of the 60 votes needed to surmount filibusters under normal procedures.

Reid said he had not yet seen a draft compromise proposal offered by Senate Finance Chairman Max BaucusMax Baucus, D-Mont., who was sharing his plan Tuesday afternoon with the "Gang of Six," a bipartisan negotiating group within his committee.

But Reid said he hoped Baucus' panel could mark up a bill next week. Reid said the latest discussions among leaders and Finance members indicated they had narrowed their disagreements.

"Even before the August recess, 80 percent of health care is already done. It's ... the 20 percent where we still had to work on," Reid said. "In our conversations today, we think we're up to 90 percent of things there are agreed upon. We have 10 percent that we need to work on, and we can do that."

Pelosi said the timing of further action on health care legislation depends in part on the response to President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress Wednesday night.

"We've been on schedule, we continue on schedule. ... the speech tomorrow will be an important factor in the timetable," Pelosi said.

The two leaders said Obama did not offer any dress rehearsal of his speech but they predicted it would, as Reid said, "put aside some of ridiculous falsehoods that have been perpetrated these past few weeks" by conservative critics of the House bill (HR 3200) and a version approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

GOP Calls for Compromise House Republican leaders said Tuesday they hope that when Obama speaks Wednesday evening he drops what they feel was a partisan attack he made Monday in urging action on health care legislation.

"House Republicans hope we don't hear what the president said in Cincinnati yesterday, when he rolled out the straw man that opponents of a government-run health care plan don't have alternatives," said House Republican Conference Chairman Mike PenceMike Pence of Indiana.

"I think we'd like to see some common- sense reforms. We'd like to see the will of the American people prevail," said Rep. Dave CampDave Camp of Michigan, ranking Ways and Means Committee Republican.

In his speech to a Labor Day crowd on Monday, Obama didn't mention Republican opponents by name, but he did say that critics had been spreading misinformation about Democratic proposals and don't have proposals of their own.

"I've got a question for all those folks who say we're going to pull the plug on Grandma," Obama said in a campaign-style speech, alluding to discredited claims by some critics that the legislation would create so-called death panels. "What's your answer? What's your solution? And you know what? They don't have one. Their answer is to do nothing."

Camp said Republicans have indeed offered alternatives, including limits on lawsuits against doctors, incentives for people to buy insurance as a substitute for mandates, and a program to encourage wellness.

Camp also said he hoped Obama makes a bipartisan appeal to Congress. "The president can demonstrate if he is really interested in a bipartisan approach or if he is interested in a partisan bill, which they have the votes to do," he said. He suggested Obama acknowledge that Republicans have offered some positive ideas.

Camp said that if Democrats move away from a public option, which Republicans reject as a government intrusion into a private market, there might be room for compromise. Asked if such a move would facilitate negotiations, Camp said, "Yes, I think it does, if a public option is dropped."

Pence said that while Republicans have other major objections, a public option "is the most offensive part of the bill because it would lead to millions of people losing their insurance." Democrats reject that contention.

Camp and Pence also voiced skepticism of any so-called trigger mechanism for eventually launching a public option if private insurers don't meet targets for holding down costs and expanding coverage. "I think a trigger could be a Trojan horse for a public plan," Camp said.

"The last Trigger I trusted was Roy RogersRoy Rogers horse," said Pence. "A public option is a bad idea today, and it will be a bad idea five years from now."