A day after President Obama introduced his $1 trillion health care proposal, Democrats in the House and Senate remained unwilling to embrace it.
While a Thursday summit being hosted by Obama is aimed at answering Republican criticism, many Democrats were hoping the session would yield changes to the plan that would make it more palatable to them.
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“All eyes are on Thursday,” Said Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., as he left a House Democratic caucus meeting where members were handed an 11-page summary of the president’s plan.
Obama’s plan tracks closely to a bill passed in December by Senate Democrats. It would create health insurance exchanges, mandate insurance coverage for all and significantly expand Medicaid. The plan would be paid for with tax increases and half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts.
While Obama has been blasting GOP obstruction, his biggest hurdle will be finding enough support for the measure in the Democrat-dominated House, where members have become much more reluctant to pass a big bill in the wake of weak poll numbers for the plan and the November victory of Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, whose campaign platform was based on his opposition to the proposal. Instead, many want to focus on jobs and the economy.
Some House members who previously voted for the $1 trillion version of the House health care bill last year now believe a better approach would be to introduce a scaled down version made up of components the GOP agrees with.
“I’ve been advocating to our leadership for a piece by piece approach,” said Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., who is facing a potentially tough re-election challenge this year. “Take the best of the health care proposals that have been discussed and vote on them one at a time so that they can be explained in one sentence and defended easily and people can understand them.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., meanwhile, is moving forward with smaller pieces of the House health care bill beginning Wednesday, when the House will take up legislation to strip the insurance companies of their decades-old antitrust exemption.
Pelosi said Obama’s health care plan had been well-received by members of the caucus.
But members seem to have set their sights lower than Obama’s big plan.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., would not commit to a time frame for passing a bill, nor would he promise that the House will take up Obama’s comprehensive plan.
“We may not be able to do all,” Hoyer said. “If you can’t do a whole, doing part is also good. There are a number of things I think we can agree on.”
In the Senate, few Democrats had formed an opinion on the plan, or one they were willing to share with reporters, at least.
“I think it’s too early to tell what support there might be,” Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said.
