Democrats May Not Have Health Proposal Before Summit With Obama
February 18, 2010, 12:02 AM ESTBy James Rowley
Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. House Democrats said their party may not be able to offer a single health-care proposal at the Feb. 25 meeting President Barack Obama has called with a challenge to Republicans to present their alternative.
Obama has promised to “post online the text of a proposed health-insurance package” in advance of the televised meeting.
Democrats in Congress are still reconciling differences between versions of health legislation passed last year by the House and Senate. House Democrats, during a conference call with reporters yesterday, said that though the two chambers are close to an agreement, they may not have a united plan by next week.
“I don’t know whether the president is going to put one particular piece of legislation on the table,” Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland told reporters.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, asked by reporters on Feb. 16 whether the president would present his own plan if Democrats in Congress failed to agree, said, “stay tuned.”
In addition to pledging to post an overhaul plan online, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius challenged Republican leaders in a Feb. 12 letter to “put forward their own comprehensive bill.”
Forum’s Purpose
Van Hollen, a member of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s leadership team, said Obama would use next week’s forum “to get a sense of what our Republican colleagues’ objectives are” and “work to try to include those ideas, if they are not already included in the legislation.”
Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, also declined to say whether there would be an agreement among Democrats before the meeting.
“We are continuing to make progress on winnowing the differences between the House and Senate proposals,” Manley said in a telephone interview.
Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat who also is part of Pelosi’s leadership team, said that in holding the summit, Obama is addressing Republicans’ complaints that they were left out of congressional deliberations.
“Much of what they were interested in is part of the bill already,” she said, adding that the meeting will help determine “if there is a genuineness” among Republicans “about moving forward.”
--With assistance from Edwin Chen in Washington. Editors: Laurie Asseo, Don Frederick
To contact the reporter on this story: James Rowley in Washington at jarowley@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jim Kirk in Washington at jkirk12@bloomberg.net.
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