Burgess: Health bill talks fall apart in committee

Although centrist Blue Dog Democrats and House leaders reached a deal on the healthcare reform bill this afternoon, House Energy and Commerce Committee member Michael Burgess (R-Tex.) said negotiations had again broken down on the Democratic side.

The Energy and Commerce Committee has been the focal point of the standoff between Blue Dogs and more liberal House Democrats. Seven members of the Blue Dog coalition sit on the committee.

Burgess and his Health Caucus account tweeted on Wednesday:

We were called back into committee for 1600. Then were immeadiately postponed-subject to the call of the chair.

And committee work has been postponed until 10AM tomorrow.

Dems cobbled a deal this afternoon, brought every1 to cmte but things fell apart on the dems side #healthbill faces another setback

Health Caucus tweeted that liberal members of the committee were unhappy with the Blue Dogs' deal, explaining the breakdown.

Under the previous deal, the two Democratic factions had settled to push back a floor vote on the bill past the August recess set to begin over the weekend. Also, they elminated $100 billion of spending from the legislation.

The Health Care Caucus is a group of Republican congressmen working on healthcare policy and is headed by Burgess, who is a physician.

The Texas Republican is also ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee.

Cross-posted to the Twitter Room

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