Where is that healthcare reform bill?
In his State of the Union address last night, President Obama waited more than half an hour in before mentioning healthcare, and as the NT Times puts it, it was then “wedged into a catalog of presidential priorities, which included jobs, the economy, education, bank regulation, energy independence, deficit reduction and the war in Afghanistan.” This suggests the outlook is grim for the legislation.
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In fact, about seven paragraphs of the 70-minute speech was dedicated to healthcare, Politico reports. That's after spending a year on it.
Obama did call on Congress not to give up the effort, the Hill reports. “Don’t walk away from reform. Let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people.”
But he didn’t offer much guidance on how to break the impasse, and meanwhile Democrats have been debating the best approach for the stalled legislation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday that the Senate would have to make changes to the bill before the House would act again, the NY Times reports.
So once again, the fate of the reform effort remains unclear, but grim.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
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Grim? The legislation has no outlook.
ReplyDeleteBut the president did say something notable on healthcare last night: he said the now-dead bill represents a "vast improvement over the status quo." The fact that House liberals don't find that credible is the main reason the bill will fail. You can blame moderates, Republicans, Scott Brown, etc., if you like but the fact remains that if House liberals agreed that the Senate bill represents a "vast improvement," they could pass it tomorrow.