Some centrist House Democrats have reached out to Republicans to explore breaking with their party leadership on healthcare and crafting a reform bill with the rival GOP, one congressman claimed Saturday.
Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) asserted that an "interesting development" is taking place underway that, if true, could effectively remove Democratic leadership from the driver's seat on healthcare reform legislation in the House.
"There's an interesting development occurring behind the scenes, wherein moderate Democrats -- so-called "Blue Dog" Democrats -- and business-friendly new Democrats are actually starting to have conversations with us to build a coalition from the center outward, to actually really come up with substantive and well-founded healthcare reform," Boustany said during an appearance on Fox News. "And that's the only way to do this."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders have moved quickly to pass a preliminary version of healthcare legislation before the August recess in Congress.
The House Ways and Means Committee as well as the Education and Labor Committee approved marked-up versions of legislation, which would create a public (or "government-run") option for consumers as well as impose a surtax on high earners, on Friday after the bill was unveiled on Monday.
Those committee votes, though, saw some centrists break with their chairmen to vote against the proposal. (The Democratic National Committee announced Saturday that it would ramp up the pressure on some of those centrists by running advertisements in their districts.)
"We think that if we can build enough public opinion on this, we'll force the issue," Boustany said. "Because the American public wants healthcare reform. Republicans agree it needs to be done, but it has to be done carefully, and in a prudent way that doesn't disrupt the whole system."
President Obama said late Friday he remained "absolutely convinced" he would be able to sign a healthcare reform bill into laws.
A defiant president warned lawmakers against losing hope or slowing down reform efforts, even as lawmakers in the House and Senate continue to wrangle over the shape and financing of various healthcare reform bills.
"I wanted everybody to just step back for a moment and look at the unprecedented progress we've already made," Obama said in remarks at the White House this afternoon.
"I realize that the last few miles, in many ways, are the hardest to run," he continued. "But I have to say: Now is not the time to slow down."
House and Senate leaders are scrambling to pass various versions of healthcare legislation into conference before a self-imposed August recess deadline. Those efforts have seen setbacks from Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analyses and skeptical words from some key lawmakers.
Obama had special words for doubters, though.
"That's why those who are betting against this happening this year are badly mistaken," he said. "It will happen this year. I am absolutely convinced of that."
A Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) report on healthcare was a "devastating blow" to the bill's prospects, a key centrist Democrat argued Friday.
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), whose vote will be critical to passing a final healthcare reform bill through the Senate, condemned the House version of the bill, which institutes a surtax on wealthy Americans to finance the $1 trillion bill, as creating "class warfare."
"I think it's a devastating blow," Nelson said of the import of the CBO analysis this week that the House healthcare reform proposal would worsen the fiscal situation of the U.S. over time.
"The CBO is sort of an official umpire -- they don't take sides," Nelson said during an appearance on CNN Radio. "And when they come out with a recommendation or a study, you know it doesn't have a political bent to it at all."
The Nebraska centrist also characterized the proposed surtax to finance health reform as an unfair way of paying for the new system.
"I know it's going to be difficult to find a way to finance the additional millions of Americans into the healthcare program...and what we have to do is find a way that's fair," Nelson said. "And it's not fair to single out and create class warfare to do it."
And as the August recess quickly (and the self-imposed deadline for passing preliminary legislation in the House and Senate) approaches, Nelson worried that by imposing the deadline, the Senate had created "self-fulfilling failure."
The U.S. economy has "walked some substantial distance back from the abyss" and no longer at risk for collapse, one of President Obama's top economic advisers said Friday.
"We were at the brink of catastrophe at the beginning of the year but we have walked some substantial distance back from the abyss," National Economic Council (NEC) Chairman Lawrence Summers told the Peterson Institute in a speech Friday. "Substantial progress has been made in rescuing the economy from the risk of economic collapse that looked all too real 6 months ago."
Summers, a former Treasury secretary who's been occasionally rumored to be a contender to take over as Federal Reserve chairman one day, said the economy was in "free fall" when the Obama administration took office in January. Summers said that, at the time, there seemed to be "no apparent limit on how much worse things could get."
The NEC director defended the administration's actions to address the economic difficulties in place when they took office, adding that their goal is to wind down an asset bubble model of growth and replace it with a more export-oriented and environmentally friendly economy.
"Yes, the President has an ambitious agenda," Summers said. "But it is an agenda comprised of measures that lay a foundation for future prosperity and for the confidence on which the current recovery depends."
Republicans pounced on remarks made by House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) Thursday evening, accusing the second-highest House Democrat of contradicting key claims about his own party's healthcare bill.
Hoyer, speaking on Fox News about the Democratic proposal, said the bill would reduce costs in the long run, and would hopefully keep tax rates under a preferred maximum of 50 percent for high earners.
"The bottom line is that we will have to bring costs down," Hoyer said on costs. "That will be our top objective."
Hoyer later said that tax rates "need to be below 50 percent" for the highest earners, adding a rate beyond that is a "cause for concern."
The GOP countered Hoyer's interview quickly on Thursday, pointing to Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Douglas Elmendorf's testimony today that the healthcare bill before the House would exacerbate the nation's long-term fiscal situation.
"House Democrats know the American people want to lower health care costs. Sadly, that's not just what their bill does," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). "When will they stop trying to defend the indefensible and work with Republicans to enact real health care reform?"
Small business stand to gain the most from healthcare reform, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) argued Thursday to the contrary of Republicans' claims.
Pallone disputed his GOP colleagues' claims that a surtax on wealthy Americans to finance healthcare reform would disproportionately affect small business owners during a conference call organized by the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
"For small businesses, they benefit more from this health plan than anybody," said Pallone, the chairman of the subcommittee on Health for the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) went a step further, asserting that healthcare reform could actually spur the creation of more small businesses.
"This really inspires entrepreneurship," she said. "People who want to set up their own small businesses can do it."
The Obama administration has declared "war" on small businesses, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) argued Thursday.
Cantor spoke on a conference call organized by the Republican National Committee (RNC), responding to an appearance by Vice President Biden in Cantor's congressional district today.
"I'd like to address the seeming war this administration has declared on small business," Cantor said. "I'm sure he'll hear what I've been hearing -- that people in the area are nervous."
Cantor thanked Biden for coming to Richmond, adding it was an "honor" for national elected officials to visit before tearing into the Obama administration's policies.
"The impact of their policies will not be measured in jobs saved and created, but rather, in jobs lost and destroyed," the second-ranking House Republican said. "I know that if he listens to the job creators, the small businesses of our regions, he'll hear them ask to stop penalizing small businesses."
"Somehow we need to cast aside all the ego associated with the stimulus bill and get down to business here," Cantor added.
Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has "misled" Congress about his role in influencing Bank of America's decision to acquire Merrill Lynch late last year, one Democratic lawmaker alleged Thursday.
Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) accused Paulson of being less-than-forthcoming during his testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee this morning.
In testimony and questioning, the former Treasury secretary defended his work late last year to forestall BofA from backing out on a deal to buy Merrill after the former got a closer look at the latter's fourth quarter earnings.
"In my opinion, you misled Congress," Lynch told Paulson Thursday morning. Lynch said that Paulson would have never gotten support from lawmakers for his plans to bail out banks in the manner he had.
"That's why I think you misled Congress," Lynch said.
In particular, Paulson denied coordinating with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to pressure BofA into the deal.
"I have had so many calls with Ben Bernanke, that I have trouble distinguishing one from another," Paulson told lynch.
Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will be met "somewhat cruelly" by lawmakers tomorrow when he testifies on Capitol Hill.
Paulson is set to defend his actions in last fall's merger between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch in sworn testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
"I think he's going to be received somewhat cruelly," Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking member of that committee, said Wednesday on the Fox Business Network in anticipation of the testimony.
Paulson will say that while he communicated some potential consequences to Bank of America executives after they got cold feet in the Merrill deal, he never acted inappropriately, or acted at the behest of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Issa said Paulson's testimony attempts to "thread the needle," and demonstrates "the hubris of government."
The California Republican said Paulson "clearly" threatened Bank of America officials during last December's wranglings. "It was clearly a use of $700 billion of walking-around money that Congress had given these people, and they were using it as both a carrot and a stick," Issa said.
Issa added that he hoped that Oversight hearings with Paulson and Bernanke will give Congress pause before granting an administration the kind of extraordinary powers and spending authority contained in last fall's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Taxes on the most opulent healthcare plans will be necessary to help finance reform, Senate Budget Committee Chairman (D-N.D.) asserted Wednesday.
Conrad said that the fiscal situation in the U.S. had warped so much since the presidential election -- when Democrats hit Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) proposal to hit some tax benefits -- to demand the taxes on Americans' "Cadillac" plans.
"If you want to reduce overutilization, you have to consider the taxation of "Cadillac" healthcare plans," Conrad said during an appearance on MSNBC. "One of the proposals that is out there, that for the moment is being shunted aside, is to reduce that tax subsidy very, very modestly."
"The fact is, the circumstances of the country and the finances of the country have changed dramatically since the campaign," he added in defense of the plans.
The centrist Democrat's call represents a signal toward fellow Democrats, who are reluctant to sign onto similar taxes, that a tax on some plans may not be politically disastrous.
The Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed a preliminary version of healthcare reform on a party-line vote this morning. It complements a House version of the bill, which includes a surtax on high earners to finance its reform.
Conrad stressed, though, that more critical than the final bill's tax structure will be how healthcare reform addresses costs. On that point, the Budget chairman conceded Congress could get it wrong.
"Healthcare reform is actually part of a strategy to get our long-term deficits and debt under control. It's critically important that when we bend the cost curve, we bend it in the right direction," he said. "It's entirely possible that it could be bent in the wrong direction."
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