Leading Blue Dog Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) said Thursday that healthcare reform legislation will be completed this year, fueling continued speculation that negotiations on the bill may last well beyond September.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday predicted that Congress would vote on the bill between late September and mid October.
"I am absolutely convinced we are gonna get healthcare reform done this year," Ross told KTHV in Little Rock, Ark. "I think putting any kind of deadline on it is a mistake because the American people don't want us to rush this," he added.
Markup of the bill in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where Ross sits, broke down after centrist Blue Dogs pushed back against House leadership because of their the bill's high cost.
President Barack Obama's original August deadline also irked Ross and the Blue Dogs. "I believe it was a mistake," Ross said.
Rep. Barney Frank said that passing healthcare legislation that includes a public option health insurance option could lead to a more expansive single payer system in which all Americans would receive government health insurance.
"I think if we get a good public option it could lead to single payer and that's the best way to reach single payer," Frank told a member of Single Payer Action, an activist group in favor of the universal government plan.
Frank called himself a "big sponsor" of the single payer system but reiterated his support for the less-comprehensive public option.
"The best way we're gonna get single payer, the only way, is to have a public option to demonstrate its strength and its power," Frank explained in defending his support of the current House bill, which includes the public option.
The Massachusetts Democrat made his remarks while entering the National Press Building on Monday.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), a strong proponent of creating a government-run public option insurance program, isn't much interested in compromising.
A member of the Finance Committee, Rockefeller hasn't been shy about criticizing a compromise proposed by Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) to instead create not-for-profit, member-owned healthcare cooperatives that would compete with private insurance under healthcare reform.
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.
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.
Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), the lead Blue Dog Democrat on healthcare reform, called the compromise struck between the centrist group and House Democratic leaders a "significant breakthrough" on the bill.
This afternoon, it was reported that the two sides that have been sparring over the House bill had agreed to cut costs and delay a floor vote until after the August recess.
Significant breakthrough on health care-House leadership agrees to deal that reduces costs, saves rural hospitals, protects small businesses
Blue Dogs and Democratic leaders eliminated $100 billion from the bill and allowed states to form health insurance "co-ops" to compete with the government-run "public option" and private insurance companies.
Four out of the seven Blue Dogs on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which had been at an impasse on the bill, agreed to the compromise with chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif.)
Reps. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), Baron Hill (D-Ind.) and Zack Space (D-Ohio) and Ross agreed to the deal while Reps. John Barrow (D-Ga.), Charlie Melancon (D-La.) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah) did not.
As a result of the compromise, two Republican committee members have indicated that markup on the bill will resume this afternoon.
The news irked one of the committee Republicans. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) tweeted:
Rumors are we return to healthcare markup at 4 PM. Rumors are still a public plan....sad. #healthbill
Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) was more certain that the committee would pick the bill back up, tweeting:
Markup on the Democratic health care plan is back on this afternoon in the Energy and Commerce Committee #fb
Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) said on Tuesday that a portion of a House resolution commemorating Hawaii's 50th anniversary as a state was designed to put "birthers" who question President Barack Obama's citizenship "on the spot."
The resolution included a passage that listed Obama's birthday and birthplace within Hawaii. "We were able to put them on the spot," Abercrombie said in reference to the "birthers."
The Hawaii Democrat called the "birther" movement "part of the pathology that is now operating based of course on race and deep seated animosity toward the fact that a progressive African-American could be elected president."
Abercrombie added that he was glad respond to questions about Obama's citizenship "as part of the celebration of the 50 years of statehood."
Abercrombie used Twitter to publicize his remarks on the resolution:
[Utterli] http://bit.ly/7EXCM Aloha! It's Neil, I just posted an Utter. Please click this link:
"We're gonna be dealing with this phenomenon," added Abercrombie.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) will vote against the Supreme Court confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor when the matter comes to a vote on Tuesday.
The Des Moines Register reported on Monday that Grassley believes the federal appeals court judge would engage in judicial activism while serving on the bench. The fifth-term senator expressed similar concerns about Justice David Souter, whom Sotomayor will replace on the Court should she be confirmed.
"And consequently, I don't want someone succeeding him who doesn't have a clear role of what the Supreme Court is," Grassley told the Register.
The Iowa Republican was previously thought to be a "swing vote," so to speak, on Sotomayor's confirmation vote.
Grassley joins Republican Senate Judiciary Committee members John Cornyn (Tex.), Orrin Hatch (Utah), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), and Jon Kyl (Ariz.) in opposing Sotomayor's confirmation. Grassley is the second-ranking member of the committee.
Grassley previously voted against Sotomayor for her appointment to the appellate court in 1998. But when asked about it May he did not seem to remember why.
President Barack Obama's official Twitter account tweeted that opponents of healthcare reform legislation are 'playing politics with our lives' this afternoon.
While some politicians (including the White House account, @whitehouse) tweet more than once a day, Obama's account has only tweeted 11 times this month.
The Obama administration has been aggressively enouraging Congress to pass legislation by the August recess and now they have taken their efforts to Twitter:
Health care reform opponents scale up attacks, playing politics w/ our lives & livelihood. Fight back: http://bit.ly/1bciXx
The tweet contains a link to an Organizing for America website that features a video of President Obama countering detractors of the health bill and an online petition form supporting the reform package.
Obama appeared at a Rose Garden news conference this afternoon to tout the healthcare reform legislation and is holding a primetime news conference on the topic at 8pm on Wednesday.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) said that the stimulus was working in his home state, bucking other national Republicans who have sharply criticized the measure. Crist, however, said that he did not anticipate the need for a second stimulus bill.
"It's pretty incredible that 26,000 teachers will continue to work for Florida's children because of these additional monies...And that's really the point. This is to help people, Crist told the Miami Herald, referring to thousands of teachers' jobs saved by federal stimulus funds.
''I don't anticipate the need for more. The numbers we've heard today are pretty significant," said Crist, denying the need for a second stimulus.
Crist welcomed stimulus funds when the bill first passed whereas other Republican governors, such as the embattled Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), threatened to refuse the funds.
Crist is running for an open Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) in 2010.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee backed the governor, a move that angered many conservatives who are putting their hopes behind former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio (R). The 38-year-old is running as a conservative insurgent.
Crist raised dramatically outraised Rubio in the second quarter $3 million to $340,000. Rubio raised over $140,000 in small online contributions.
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