Many Republicans are open to supporting a healthcare compromise creating cooperatives for Americans, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said Thursday.
Conrad, the chief proponent of the cooperative compromise, said that while he hasn't engaged in any formal vote counting, more Republicans than those in the so-called "group of six" locked in crafting a bipartisan health bill are open to backing a compromise.
"There are many more who are open to the cooperative option as being a way to bridge the gap between those who are passionately in favor of the public option, and those who are passionately opposed," Conrad said during an interview on the Fox Business Network.
The three Republicans in that group are Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, has said that more than those three Republicans would need to support a final healthcare reform bill for it to be considered "bipartisan."
Conrad continued to push the co-op model, which he first floated as a compromise early in the negotiations over a bill, as the only option likely to pass through the Senate.
"The only plan that has bipartisan support in the United States Senate is the cooperative option," he said.
He explained that while he's not sure what the sure what the vote count would be for a co-op bill, the public option is not viable.
"I've not gone out and done a detailed vote count because we're not at that stage," Conrad asserted. "It's very clear that there are not the votes in the United States Senate for the public option."
As for a timeline, the chairman of the Budget Committee said that while the group of six maintains no timeline to strike a deal, there is still a "good chance" that healthcare reform could pass through Congress this year.
The White House is in "chaos" over its management of healthcare reform legislation before Congress, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) charged late Wednesday.
Cantor, during a short interview on Fox News, said that the Obama administration's recent management of the bill has been in disarray in recent days.
"What I really see right now is a White House in chaos over healthcare," said the second-ranking House Republican.
The White House has had to battle both liberal Democrats and Republicans this week over whether or not final healthcare legislation would include a public (or "government-run") option, versus having cooperatives for consumers.
The Obama administration has also had to respond to charges that Democrats in Congress are mulling "going it alone" on healthcare.
Cantor said that Democrats have sought to go it alone from the outset when crafting a healthcare reform bill.
"They have, from the very beginning, tried to go it alone on this, much to the disappointment to we Republicans in the House, and certainly to the American people," he said.
A healthcare bill establishing cooperatives would be a step along the path to establishing a public (or "government-run") insurance option for Americans, one Republican congressman asserted Thursday.
Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), echoing GOP talking points that the public option would inevitably lead to a single-payer system, said that establishing healthcare cooperatives would eventually lead to the public option, and so on.
"I don't really see how that changes the playing field any," Garrett said during an appearance on CNBC when asked about the prospects for co-ops. "The cooperatives would be one step to get us to this bill, and then this bill would get us to the single-payer system."
Co-ops have been floated as a potential compromise to win centrist Democrats' and Republicans' support for a healthcare reform package in Congress before the end of the year.
That proposal's chances, though, have been somewhat hurt by liberals' unwillingness to abandon the public option, and Republicans' attacks on the cooperatives.
"The cooperatives has no difference in effect that the government would still be able to initiate and subsidize their system vis-a-vis the private sector, and the private sector will be squeezed out," said Garrett, a member of the House committees on the Budget and Financial Services.
The Obama administration expressed disappointment Thursday over the release of the man convicted of bombing Pan Am Fight 103 from a Scottish prison on "compassionate" grounds.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration "deeply regrets" the release of Abdel Basset Mohamed al-Megrahi, who was convicted of the 1988 bombing over Scotland, which killed hundreds of travelers, including Americans.
"The United States deeply regrets the decision by the Scottish Executive to release Abdel Basset Mohamed al-Megrahi," Gibbs said in a statement.
A Scottish judge ordered al-Megrahi released on compassionate grounds. He is suffering from terminal prostate cancer.
The White House has continually urged against the native Libyan's release, Gibbs said.
"As we have expressed repeatedly to officials of the government of the United Kingdom and to Scottish authorities, we continue to believe that Megrahi should serve out his sentence in Scotland," Gibbs said.
U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Attorney General Eric Holder, along with White House officials, had been in extensive contact with counterparts in Scotland and the United Kingdom to communicate strong opposition to the release, the White House said.
"The United States is deeply disappointed by the decision of the Scottish Executive to release Abdel Basset Mohamed al-Megrahi who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement.
"We have continued to communicate our long-standing position to UK government officials and Scottish authorities that Megrahi should serve out the entirety of his sentence in Scotland," she added. "Today, we remember those whose lives were lost on December 21, 1988 and we extend our deepest sympathies to the families who live each day with the loss of their loved ones due to this heinous crime."
The White House, meanwhile, expressed sympathy for family members of the victims.
"On this day, we extend our deepest sympathies to the families who live every day with the loss of their loved ones," Gibbs said. "We recognize the effects of such a loss weigh upon a family forever."
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is pushing Massachusetts lawmakers to change state laws so that a vacancy in his Senate seat could be filled quickly.
According to a report in the Boston Globe on Thursday, Kennedy, who has been ailing from brain cancer from over a year, has written key Massachusetts officials to push for a change in state law to allow Gov. Deval Patrick (D) to quickly appoint an interim senator, instead of having to wait five months for a special election.
The letter is rife with implications as to both the state of Kennedy's health, but also the current state-of-play in debates over healthcare legislation in the Senate, where 60 votes are expected to be needed to pass the bill.
"I strongly support that law and the principle that the people should elect their senator," Kennedy wrote in his letter, which was obtained by the Globe. "I also believe it is vital for this Commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election."
Kennedy confidantes maintained in the story, however, that nothing should be read into the veteran senator's health status due to the letter. Massachusetts's junior senator, John Kerry (D), said that Kennedy would be available for a healthcare vote on a moment's notice.
"If [Senate majority leader] Harry Reid required 60 votes tomorrow, Ted Kennedy would be on a plane and be down in the Senate to vote," Kerry said.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) accused House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) of engaging in "intimidation tactics" in reaction to a letter he sent to several private insurance companies requesting financial data.
The second-term senator made his comments using Twitter on Wednesday:
Timing of Waxman demand letter to insurance industry smacks of intimidation tactics. What's next? An IRS audit?
The letter dated Monday said that the committee is investigating "executive compensation and other business practices in the health insurance industry." Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee chairman Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) co-signed the letter with Waxman.
A Stupak spokesman said 52 letters were sent to the nation's largest health insurance companies, some of which oppose the current healthcare reform legislation, the AP reported.
A Scottish judge's order to release Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi will only endanger the U.S., one of the lawmakers working to keep the convict in jail said Wednesday.
Al-Megrahri was convicted in the bombing the flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, and was ordered released on Wednesday on "compassionate" grounds; he is suffering from terminal cancer.
"Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was convicted of killing 270 innocent people after a fair trial and was given ample opportunities to appeal his case," Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.Y.) said in reaction. "The man who committed these awful crimes should not be allowed to walk free."
Lautenberg said that the former Libyan agent's release increases the risk of attacks on the U.S.
"Releasing Mr. al-Megrahi also sends the wrong message about the consequences of international terrorism and increases the threat of terror in the United States, the United Kingdom and around the world," he said.
After an audience member at his town hall criticized him for saying a prayer before the meeting, Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) said, "well I can tell you this, ma'am, David Scott's gonna pray wherever I want to."
During the meeting, a woman said that Scott and the audience "broke a federal law" by saying a prayer because the town hall was held in a public school. The Georgia Democrat's forceful response elicited a loud round of applause from the crowd.
For the record, there is no federal law prohibiting prayer from taking place in a public school. Laws, however, do restrict government-sanctioned prayer.
At the beginning of the meeting, Scott asked everyone to stand and pray so that "we're starting it off right."
Here is an excerpt from the prayer:
We pray, dear God, that you have us be respectful to one another, that we have a civil discussion, and most importantly dear God, that we leave here much wiser, more knowledgeable and better informed than we were when we came in.
Scott concluded the prayer by saying "and all of these blessings we answer your son Jesus Christ's name, and we all say amen."
The fourth-term Blue Dog from Georgia has not shied away town hall controversy. Earlier this month, Scott accused one of his constituents of "hijacking" a healthcare meeting. A few days later a vandal painted a four-foot swastika on Scott's office.
Centrist Blue Dog Democrats are "making a big mistake" by not backing President Obama's healthcare reforms, Teamsters President James P. Hoffa threatened Wednesday.
"They're a whole new phenomenon," Hoffa said of the centrist Democrats who have been reluctant to back a healthcare bill containing certain taxes and a public (or "government-run") option for consumers.
Hoffa's words come after the likely incoming president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, told the Huffington Post that his union may sit out campaigns in which lawmakers broke from the organization.
Hoffa said that the Blue Dogs certainly weren't aiding Obama's efforts to pass health reform.
"The president needs every Democratic vote, whether it's in the House or the Senate," he said. "The fact that they're basically chopping up the bill certainly doesn't help him."
The son of the legendary union leader Jimmy Hoffa also said that the bruising healthcare battle might have taught the president a lesson or two.
"I think he's really learning a lesson about how divided this town is," he said. "I think he came here he had the idea that he could charm everybody."
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) claimed on Wednesday that Democratic leaders have not yet decided to go it alone on healthcare reform legislation, but that "patience is not unlimited" and that Democrats are determined to pass the bill this year "by any legislative means necessary."
The White House still prefers a bipartisan bill, and neither the White House nor the Democratic leadership has made a decision to pursue reconciliation...We will not make a decision to pursue reconciliation until we have exhausted efforts to produce a bipartisan bill. However, patience is not unlimited and we are determined to get something done this year by any legislative means necessary
Reports surfaced this morning that the White House and Democratic leaders are prepared to force a party line vote in order to pass healthcare reform legislation.
Liberal Democrats applauded the strategy while House Republican leader John Boehner (Ohio) said "from day one, the White House has taken a go it alone approach on health care."
The ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee and lead healthcare negotiator Chuck Grassley (Iowa) stood behind the bipartisan talks in his committee today in light of the reports.
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