House Democratic leaders pledge to hold a vote on health care by their Easter break, which gives lawmakers about three weeks to resolve dozens of disagreements that stand in the way of passing legislation.
“There is all kinds of stuff in the ether,” Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., said, referring to the long list of differences Democrats have over how to write the health care bill.
Democrats plan to have the House vote on a Senate-passed version of the plan and then make corrections in a smaller bill that would have to be approved by both chambers.
Democrats so far can’t agree on what would go in the smaller bill and there may not be enough support among House Democrats to pass the Senate bill in the first place.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she will convince members of her caucus to vote for the bill, but conceded she is unable to persuade members yet because there is no proposal in writing and no accompanying price tag for it.
“When I talk to my members, I have to have two important pieces of information,” Pelosi said. “One is, what is the final status of the bill? And two, what is the Senate going to do about it? What are the actions the Senate is going to take? The Senate cannot tell us that until they see the final product as well.”
Senate leaders said they are at the mercy of the Congressional Budget Office, which is responsible for scoring any new proposal. But there is no proposal yet, because Democrats cannot agree on a final product.
Despite House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s pledge for a pre-Easter vote, even he said on Thursday there is still a lot to work out first.
“You have to resolve this in a way that gives a comfort level to both sides,” Hoyer told The Examiner, referring to differences between the House and Senate. The comfort level, he said, “is missing over here.”
While Senate and House Democratic leaders met in the Capitol to hash out a compromise, President Obama continued to play referee at the White House, inviting the liberal and moderate Democratic factions of the House to separate meetings.
On attendee was Ron Kind, D-Wis., who said he and many other moderates want the health care plan to do more to rein in costs and improve Medicare. The Senate bill, he said, “seems inadequate.”
Liberals like Weiner actually want to spend more on reform, saying that in the end it will save more money.
“Some of the problems can be easily fixed if the president loses his love affair with a specific number for the bill,” Weiner said, referring to the $900 billion spending limit Obama has publicly put on the legislation.
But it may be harder to resolve other, smaller problems that could create big headaches for the leadership, such as the desire by the Hispanic caucus to include Puerto Rico in the health care reform plan.
“There are a lot of people who feel they have been taken for granted here,” Weiner said. “It doesn’t take much to create a firestorm.”
