Obama to Make Health Care Announcement Next Week

cbsnews.com ^ | Feb. 26, 2010 | Stephanie Condon

[Free ThinkerNY]

President Obama will make an announcement sometime next week on what he "believes is the best way forward" on health care reform, the White House said Friday.

"We've had many weeks to contemplate where we are," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

The president will consider areas of common agreement discussed yesterday at the White House health care summit and work with his team to possibly incorporate them into the health care proposal he has put forward, Gibbs said. Some of those ideas could include Republican Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.)'s suggestions on cutting fraud and abuse from Medicare.

"This is a fairly dynamic process that will happen over the next several days," Gibbs said.

It is unclear whether there are enough votes in either the House or the Senate to pass the president's health care proposal, but Nancy-Ann DeParle, the director of the White House Office of Health Reform, will be working with both Democrats and Republicans to try make progress on the issue, Gibbs said.

If the Senate is unable to find any Republican votes for health care, they may use a process called "reconciliation," which only requires a simple majority, to pass the bill. While the proposal to use reconciliation has been characterized by some as too partisan, Gibbs said that "the notion that somehow health care hasn't been done this way has been offered up by people but is not accurate."

[Rocko]

Here comes the Democratic train wreck.

[hstacey]

Yes Bama, bring it on!!! Let’s kill the bill once and for all...Go shoot some hoops and leave us alone...

[doc1019]

And I’m sure it will align with what the American people want. /s

[dajeeps]

I wish he would just get lost. Why doesn’t he go be president of France or something, they love him there.

[G Larry]

The best thing for America is for Obama, Harry, and Nancy to persist in their foolishness.
...and get their collective a$$ handed to them in successive defeats, en route to November, when they have their world turned on it's head.
It will be fun to watch them in their public anger and frustration.

[21twelve]

Well hey - he did have that televised meeting. It’s all good - everything is out in the open, everyone gets to be heard, the will of the people, hope and change, blah,blah,blah......

[jaz.357]

"We've had many weeks to contemplate where we are,"

WTF?

[combat_boots]

[FormerACLUmember]

Slightly scaled down version to be Rahmed through Congress without debate or inspection.

[Question Liberal Authority]

Some of those ideas could include Republican Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.)'s suggestions on cutting fraud and abuse from Medicare.

If there's fraud and abuse and the government can cut it, why don't they just do it? Why does that need to be attached to some comprehensive health care solution? That's like making bank robbery illegal, but only if you pass the stimulus package.

[doc1019]

Yep, blah, blah, blah ... that is our leader for ya’.

[The Wizard]

Phucq him

[Names Ash Housewares]

More lectures!

Brilliant plan there Ozero.

What else ya got? Handouts and power point?

[Huskrrrr]

RIP PELOSI!

[mwl8787]

Well, today Pelosi said they are not starting over, so this means that the House would have to pass the Senate bill and so forth. The president’s “upgrades,” one would presume, would have then have to pass the House in the so-called sidecar, and then onto the Senate, where they will attempt to jamm it through via reconciliation.

Am I missing something here? Madam Speaker doesn’t have the votes to pass the Senate bill.

So, if BO surprises everyone with a so-called small bill, then how do they get this passed without going thru the committees? Is BO going to roll out a bill ready for the Rules Committee?

Please help me understand what I am missing here.

[Raycpa]

Gee, I wonder what they will do.

Isn’t Obama wonderful and thoughtful in that he hasn’t decided in advance to ram this through congress using that old time tested and shop worn method called reconciliation that is so often used to pass health care bills in the past?

[LibLieSlayer]

If you do this obama... we will destroy you and your party politically forever... and we WILL PROSECUTE you one day... for many things... so go ahead... “make our day”! “Are you feeling lucky punk? Well, are you”?

LLS

[Miss Didi]

6 WEEKS LIFE SUPPORT: DEMS BUY MORE TIME FOR HEALTHCARE



Pelosi: US health overhaul will happen

From article: "We look forward to working with you over the next few weeks to see if we can come to agreement," Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told the number two House Republican, Eric Cantor, in a discussion on the House floor.

"If we can't do it, then we're going to proceed. And that's what he (Obama) told the American people he was going to do," Hoyer said.

One senior Democratic congressional aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Obama "gave folks 4-6 weeks before we go it alone" without Republican support.

[Signalman]