Reid Pushes Back On Senators Who Want To Delay Health Care

Before heading off to meet with President Obama on Thursday, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said he planned to urge the president not to force an arbitrary August deadline on health care reform.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, however, said he spoke with Nelson Wednesday night about the health care reform process and that the Nebraska senator had expressed no such concerns.

"I talked to Ben Nelson last night. That isn't what he said to me," Reid (D-Nev.) told the Huffington Post just after a Thursday press conference. "He said he's going to write me a letter so I'll see what the letter says."

Asked about the letter, Nelson spokesman Jake Thompson would say only: "Stay tuned."

Three Democratic aides outside of Nelson's office said, however, that the letter is being written by Nelson, who is in talks with a few centrist Democrats and several Republicans. The letter would call on the Senate not to set an August deadline for the passage of a health care bill.

The letter has yet to be sent and with negotiations around the health care package in the Finance Committee fluid, the effort to organize members around it may falter.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the committee, announced Thursday, for the first time since the reform effort began, that he had "hope we can reach some kind of agreement by the end of the day."

He met this morning with the group he has dubbed the "coalition of the willing": Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). All are members of the Finance Committee. The group began meeting again at 1:30 p.m.Thursday and, as of 5 p.m., it was still behind closed doors.

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Nelson was joined at the White House meeting by Snowe, a moderate Obama hopes to win to his side. Snowe told MSNBC after the meeting that she also pressed Obama for more time.

But senators are never happy with the time they're given. "As I said in there," Reid said, pointing toward the press conference room, "it wouldn't matter when we did this. People always want more time."

Obama pressed upon Snowe and Nelson that the best opportunity to pass health care was in the next few weeks and that a delay until September could put the whole project at risk.

Reid continues to insist that the Senate will finish before the August recess. In fact, the effort gained extra momentum on Thursday with word of the endorsement of the House bill by the powerful American Medical Association.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is still urging delay. "Americans want us to take the time necessary to make health care less expensive and more accessible, while preserving what they like about our system," he said in a statement Wednesday. "Americans want health care reform, but they don't want to give a green light to a reform that only ends up costing them more for worse care than they currently have. The fact that Americans are increasingly concerned about how much health care reform is going to cost shouldn't be a reason to rush. It should be a reason for us to take the time to get it right."

Meanwhile, the Senate waits on Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to introduce a bill, which Obama had asked be delivered by the end of this week. Baucus is spending much of Thursday in meetings, aides said, with senators on both sides of the aisle as he works toward a compromise.

Jeff Muskus contributed reporting

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Comments

[toughbunny1]

How much time do you need? We have been needing healthcare reform for 20 years. This issue is not new. It has been thought and rethought and rethought and it needs to happen NOW. It is a huge drain on our country's well being both physically and economically, and it is reaching crisis proportions. We don't need more time. We need action.

And it isn't a welfare program by any stretch of the imagination. Creating a public insurance is the ONLY way to keep the insurance companies honest and the only way to get the bargaining power necessary to keep healthcare costs down. (well other than a single payer system which is what we really need)

[sc300nc]

Let's stop calling it a healthcare bill and just call it another welfare program.

[PeteMartinUSA]

Part 2...pelosi and her socialist crew will veto in house...bu­t who freaking cares...th­ere are enough moderates in the house...bl­ue dogs and republicans included to get this done...emp­loyee cadillac plans will come under fire and will be taxed...as CBO says that this is the main cause of cost inflation.­..finally the republicans will take this as their bill and market at the next mid terms that they saved the population from single payer and gave universal care at a much lower cost to all...demo­crats I think have just managed to clutch defeat from the jaws of victory and pass power in both houses to the republicans at the next mid terms...ho­w completely stupifying­...why do the Democrats have to be led done the garden path by the screaming factionale socialist left...why can't this great party take a more centralist path...as in where the main stream voters are and stay permanently in power...I'­m dumbfounded by Dems and how they can put arrogant socialists in charge of the leadership­...they have something like 270 members...­surely they are some sensible folks amoungst them that would keep this party in touch with reality.

[PeteMartinUSA]

Thanks for the article...­nice update illustrating what a mess this bill is in...look folks this has become a disaster for Obama...th­e current bills (House and HELP) have zero chance of passing the senate and only a outside chance of passing a socialist house...th­e only bill that stands a chance is the Senate Finance version...­and they aren't rushing...­it is highly likely that some republicans will support a bipartisan version of the Senate Finance Bill and it will get maybe 75+ votes at best...but they will (sorry for the brutal medical term) amputate the legs and arms of what the liberals are wanting from it...they definately will not pass committee something the CBO isn't happy with in terms of constraining and minimising cost...pub­lic plan is out for sure...oth­erwise republicans are goneski...­TBC

[epiphany1234]

Please don't let one slow-as-molasses senator, Nelson, derail this magnificent step forward by the Obama administration.

If Nelson can't keep up, stick to the time-line, maybe it's NELSON that needs to be jettisoned and not the idea for August.

We need politicians who can get onboard with the movement of the times.....­we need energy and creativity, and it's clear Nelson lacks them both.

[kmorri107]

Take a look at this article and then refute the points. If you agree or disagree try to use facts and not emotions. Speaking emotionally and in general terms on a topic means you don't understand it.

[levibatgirl]

P Noonan, "When did people start getting so obsessed with health care?"

She's such a clueless m0r0n.

[PaxEterna]

Notice how they switch the talking points ...no one anymore is talking about what is IN this atrocious bill, and, more importantly what is NOT (SINGLE PAYER) on the table for discussion.

It's all a hand-wringing show about NOTHING important ...whether they pass it now or later, it doesn't matter, if it's the wrong bill-which it is- for the American people.

[citizenx]

Has anyone that "supports" the House Bill for Healthcare Reform read it yet? It does not appear so to me, unless they want to put a private choice out of business. Just like the Stimulus Bill, it will pass with little to no knowledge of what is in it. "Just pass it so we feel good that we did something". Use that grey matter between your ears.

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=332548165656854

[mergina]

Reid, if you and Pelosi are re-elected than pigs will fly.

[ceoco]

Harry Reid and Pelosie are the same person! Take a close look!

[RJII]

Health care reform for decades-- no more excuses. If they send over 300K troops and contractors to Iraq, they get get this done on time.

[kmorri107]

Read this and then tell me why you think it is incorrect.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124779717982855785.html#printMode

[Ozarks]

Nelson's toads say: "Three Democratic aides outside of Nelson's office said, however, that the letter is being written by Nelson". Nelson is so paid off by Pharma and Health Care Corporations that they would not let him write a letter. As we speak the purported letter is being written by lobbyists who own Nelson.

[fuOBL]

"The payroll penalty would then phase in starting at 2% for firms with annual payrolls over $250,000 rising to the full 8 percent penalty for firms with annual payrolls above $400,000."

Now I'm sure when merchants turn around and raise all their prices they will be viewed as "greedy" by the socialists.

Have these people lost their mind? This is the biggest job killer I have ever seen (I now believe that eliminating jobs a killing our economy is actually their plan).

[fuOBL]

So tell me, after the NEW healthcare plan goes into effect and the Democrats are shocked and dismayed by the shortage of funding, will they trot my kids out for fundraisers every week like the schools do?