Hear, hear!! Word!!!
plainolamerican wrote:
fuck Obama, Pelosi and Reid really hard
then deport their sorry asses
On Jan 6, 2:11 pm, dick thompson <[email protected]> wrote:
<http://www.politico.com>
*Dem leaders to forgo conference*
By: Carrie Budoff Brown and Patrick O'Connor
January 5, 2010 11:54 PM EST
President Barack Obama and congressional Democratic leaders agreed
Tuesday to forgo a formal conference committee for reconciling the
Senate and House health care bills, according to three Democratic
congressional aides.
The decision means that the White House, Senate Majority Harry Reid and
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will attempt to reach an agreement through
private negotiations with key lawmakers. Once a deal is struck, the bill
will go back to the House for passage, then to the Senate and on to the
president's desk --- a legislative path that has been described as "ping
pong."
The decision to bypass the conference committee, which the aides said
came during an Oval Office meeting Tuesday, formalized what many
Democrats had long known: If they have any hope of passing the health
care bill quickly, they would need to circumvent the normal order of
business.
But the move --- though not unusual in the increasingly gridlocked
Congress --- has drawn sharp criticism from Republicans and even some
Democrats, who say Obama is not living up to his promise of a
transparent process.
In the meeting, Obama reiterated his desire to finish the health care
bill by his State of the Union address, set for late January or early
February, aides said --- even though the White House has raised the
possibility that the timeline could slip.
In what can viewed as a concession to House Democrats angry about the
loss of the public option, the president said during the meeting that he
wanted the final legislation to provide more generous subsidies to help
Americans buy insurance, and stated a preference for boosting the
measures beyond what the Senate bill offers, a congressional Democratic
leadership aide said.
After months of maintaining an arms-length distance, Obama used the
meeting Tuesday to delve into the health care negotiations, signifying
the start of what a second congressional Democratic leadership aide said
would be heightened involvement by the White House. Obama pledged to
take a direct role in resolving House-Senate differences and setting the
agenda and pace of the negotiations, according to the aide, who was
briefed on the meeting.
Pelosi and her committee chairmen will return Wednesday for another
meeting with Obama, and House and Senate staff also are also expected to
sit down with administration officials, aides said.
Before Obama left for his Christmas vacation in Hawaii, he pledged to
take a direct role in the conference negotiations --- a move that
Democrats on Capitol Hill consider long overdue. Liberal Democrats have
been clamoring for Obama to get more involved, hoping he would weigh in
to push their top priority, which was the public option.
But the late push might not be a good thing for Pelosi and her liberal
House colleagues because the White House has shown a clear preference
for the Senate bill, particularly a plan to give the administration more
authority to recommend cost savings under Medicare.
The White House has been firm in saying the president planned to
preserve his personal leverage for the conference --- and even without a
formal conference, he now seems prepared to use it.
� 2009 Capitol News Company, LLC
<http://www.irides.com>
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