As House Democrats tout compromises on health care reform and a possible committee vote, the real hurdles to a deal will come in the fall, when the final version of the legislation will be assembled.
A group of liberal and moderate House Democrats met privately in a small room off the chamber Thursday afternoon, trying to decide whether to support a health care reform bill under consideration in the Energy and Commerce Committee, or stop it in its tracks when a vote takes place as early as Friday.
The bill was altered substantially on Wednesday in order to appease the members of the moderate Democratic Blue Dog Coalition who sit on the panel, angering liberals. But Democratic leaders told their members that they must put aside their anger over the changes and pass the bill out of committee this week in order to be able to trumpet the progress the House is making on health care reform during the August recess, which starts next week.
“The question is, where do we draw the line in the sand, is it now or is it further down the road,” said Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, who opposes the changes. “Maybe people will decide that the Blue Dogs got what they wanted from digging in their heels.”
The changes included slashing $100 billion from the bill and eliminating the requirement that doctors be reimbursed at Medicare rates under a government-run health care option that would be created in the plan.
The move infuriated less conservative Democrats, who complained the changes undercut the public option by eliminating the competition with the private insurance industry that the Medicare rates would have fostered. Liberal and some moderate members of the committee are now threatening to block passage, but they may vote for the bill in committee and hope for changes in their favor later this year when the bill is merged with other proposals.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., conceded on Thursday to reporters that the changes Democratic leaders made on behalf of Blue Dogs might not even survive a process that involves not only the three committees that have drafted bills, but the powerful Rules Committee, which will eventually decide which bill-altering amendments to allow during final debate in the fall.
“The way I look at it, I’m more concerned about the Rules Committee than I am about with the Energy and Commerce Committee,” said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., whose panel created a competing health care bill.
But others fear House health care reform legislation will only get weaker as the process moves along. “We have already compromised tremendously,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who opposes the Energy and Commerce bill. “This, I think, is one compromise too many.”
