White House Drafting Health Care Bill: CNN

CNN reported Thursday afternoon that the White House is quietly working to draft health care legislation after allowing Congress to work on its own for months.

Sources told the network that the administration could deliver its legislation to Capitol Hill sometime after the President Barack Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress Wednesday.

Obama also held a conference call with progressive Democrats, who came away from the meeting with the impression that the public option was still in play.

Rep. Lynne Woolsey (D-Calif.), one of the leading voices of the Progressive Caucus, just released a statement on the call with Obama, saying they were confident Obama was still on their side.

"Caucus leaders expressed absolute commitment to the idea of a robust public option, and said they expect it to be part of any health care reform legislation," Woolsey's office said in a statement. "The president listened, asked many questions, and suggested that the dialogue should continue. A follow-up meeting between the president and caucus leaders will take place next Tuesday or Wednesday at the White House."

Both Woolsey and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) spoke to CNN after the meeting. "He heard it loud and clear," Woolsey said. Watch:

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Comments

[jeff90125]

Whoa, hold on a minute!

Obama drafting legislation? The last time I checked the president was part of the executive branch of government. The Constitution states that ALL (not some or most) legislative power is vested in Congress.

Well, he is treating the Constitution like a roll of Charmin just like Bush did. So I guess it's Ok.

[Austintatious]

Another excellent example of the total lack of intellectual integrity and disconnect with reality exhibited by today's righties.

Of course, the real problem with Obama's handling of his healthcare reform initiative is that there's been little to no real initiative coming from the White House. Obama should have had, at the very least, a first draft of the bill with the features they sought, before they ever started the disccusion. The fact that they did not demonstrates, at best, a lack of prepareden­ess,possib­ly, a lack of commitment and, maybe, even a choice to play it safe. Of course, allowing the Congress to run amuck without guidance from grown ups and, when necessary, an LBJ style heavy hand from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, was anyhing but safe. Indeed, it has proven to be quite unwise.

But, back to our misguided friend Jeff, here. His suggestion that a president should not be participating in the development and passing of such legislation is totally absurd though not surprising, for the absurd is all we get from the right these days. Keep up the good work, Jeff. We're counting on deep thinkers just like you.

[oldngrumpy]

Hillary hit a big brick wall in congress exactly because she drafted the bill without consulting them. Everyone in Washington advised Obama not to do the same, especially given the chatter about his being too forceful and divisive.

It's no surprise that Obama met the same resistance from the same players on his health care bill in spite of his allowing congress to take the lead. It's reform that the Republicans and Blue Dogs don't want. They would be cutting off a major money pipeline and they are already deep in the pockets of insurance.

I wouldn't want to be a Blue Dog right now. Ya gotta ask tho, with health care reform being a foundation piece of Democratic philosophy for at least 50 yrs, what the he// were they thinking was gonna happen when Dems got a majority?

[Beca]

You seem to forget that when President Obama was campaigning for office, he presented a comprehensive Health Care Reform plan in his Blueprint for Change document. This is what the American people voted for and this is what Congress should base their Reform proposals, but it seems that everybody has very short term memories. So, no, there is no lack of preparedness on the part of the President, I am sure his plan has been prepared long ago, but not to riffle the sensitive egos of Congress, he had to first let them try to draft something on their own--now that they have failed to do so, he can unveil his plan, a plan that we were all privy to during the election.
Remember the financial legislation? Congress was all bent out of shape because President Obama presented them with his plan for financial recovery. You too must have a very short term memory!!

[Beca]

The President can draft any proposed legislation he wants, it is still up to Congress to pass it!!
He is within his right to do so. Now you dare compare what he is doing to what Bush did? wake up! Bush practiced "Signing Statements" to create his own legislation and totally by-pass Congress, he did thousands of Signing Statements! Signing Statements totally by-pass Congress for approval and they become law. He also did thousands of Executive Orders.
Bush did not know what was in the Constitution, he never read it. President Obama has intimate knowledge and total respect for the Constitution. Huge difference.
President Obama has done nothing to by-pass Congress, and I doubt he ever will, although with this issue, I wish he did so we can get to the business of guaranteeing health care for all Americans.

[jeff90125]

Bush did now know what was in the Constitution? So he was ignorant? Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Obama studied Constitutional law, he has no excuse.

You are correct in that he has not bypassed Congress. He has however given taxpayer money to the auto industry and the financial industry. Did he not fire people who were employed by the private sector?

He's trying to push through a healthcare bill which the federal government has no authority to provide within the Constitution.

You may say it falls under the general welfare clause but I would ask you to read the Federalist papers as well as Madison's notes to have an idea what was intended.

Yes, he is treating the Constitution like a roll of toilet paper.

[judyannh]

i am a liberal dem and i say to the rest of liberal democrats, chill out and give the president a chance...e­veryone is tearing down this president every chance they get....the guy is doing a fantastic job, done more in his first 9 months than most presidents­...he is doing a fantastic job in the face of enormous bigotry and pure racism!!!!

[Awake-and-Sing]

I don't need any lectures about "enormous bigotry".

I still feel that knife in my back when he stabbed the gay community in the back by endorsing that DOMA brief and refusing stop loss gays being discharged from the military. We know the meaning of betrayal and bigotry all to well.

Courage and integrity are not race dependent, and right now all the President has done for 8 months is shill for the same corporations McCain and Bush would have, and triangulate against the various parts of his base to prove his centrism.

Nobody expected him to fix everything or necessarily anything in 8 months. However, he's had plenty of time to show us his "character" in office and it is decidedly lacking.

Not once has he showed any courage or resolve to stand up and fight for his campaign platform. But he has given away the store to conservatives and gotten nothing in return.

Either he wasn't sincere in his campaign or he doesn't have the courage of his stated convictions in office. Both are equally reprehensible.

Let's make a betting pool when he decides to stand up and fight a conservative or a corporate lobbyist for a change. I pick never.

[StillweRise]

SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT..­.

you DON'T see the enormity of bigotry arrayed against our president.­..

you DON'T see him fighting for a campaign promise he ran on as he goes up against entrenched lobbyists, the insurance industry, the repbulicans, and blue dogs....
nope.... no character THERE.. HUH...

DOMA.... DOMA?????? ITS NOT A DONE DEAL, and he (a few weeks ago) picked a person to lead the LEGISLATIVE fight to over turn the law. (but while it's law... he is duty bound to uphond it... even as he holds his nose)...

please try to see past YOURS as your 'bandwagon' support wavers.

[magic3400]

It's not about race, it's about a President that is more willing to give the minority more say than the vast majority. It's time for him to pander to the majority, not the minority on health care.

The Democrats didn't elect him to give power back to inept Republicans.

[oldngrumpy]

How many Democrats does it take to pass a Republican health care bill?

[Beca]

He is doing a good job, however, and I say this with great respect for him and the office of the President, he needs to stop trying to please the GOP, and start acting like our President. He needs to be more forceful and assert his role as our President in front of Congress of they will never stop disrespecting him. The GOP will never be pleased with him, their goal is to make him fail and fail bad--that is their agenda. They don't care about the American people, our economy, health care, education or anything--they care about power, money and having President Obama fail. He needs to realize that, he also needs to realize that there are also Dems in Congress who have a bone to pick with him for beating their preferred Presidential candidate, some can't get over having a non-white President, so they are not going to help him, and some may be sabotaging him. For our sake, he needs to realize that these people will not change their minds, and he needs to leave them in the dust and stand strong with us as our President.

[Thabit]

How can Obama soothe liberals? #1 single payer ( liberals very soothed ) #2 the public option without triggers ( the least amount of soothing he can get away with , without facing a serious primary challenge in 2012) #3 state co-ops and triggers on a public option ( Mr president , meet your new friends and supporters , Blue Dogs and Republicans)

[CTtransplant]

NO trigger!!!

Never ever ever give up!!! Folks, do not forget the marches on September 13th!!!
If not now, when? If not us, who?

Kennedy was one of our greatest champions of health care reform. He carried the torch for a long time...and now it is up to us to continue to carry it!

Our elected officials in Congress receive health care mostly paid for by us tax payers, yet many are trying to make it impossible for us to purchase an affordable plan of our own :

While many of us are struggling to afford medical insurance/medical bills.
While Congress people try to stop healthcare reform.
While Congress people accept large contributions from lobbyists to prevent health care reform.

Please sign these petitions - and by all means, spread the word! Thank you!

http://www.petitiononline.com/PubOp676/petition.html
http://www.democrats.com/honor-ted-kennedy?cid=ZGVtczQ0MTA5OGRlbXM=
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5649/t/4922/content.jsp?content_KEY=2763&tag=hk1_typ-e1

[jgergyes]

I wonder how much healthcare premiums will be going up this year after the enormous amounts the insurance companies are spending on lobbying our Congress.

[t iessa]

I hadn't thought of that. Thanks a lot.

[Thabit]

If those companies want to constantly remind the voters of the rape that just occured , yea they will increase premiums , but they may find their best supporters (blue dogs and republicans) in "early retirement ' after the next ellection.

[getsmart85]

Wus we can. Wus we can.

[M.S. Bellows, Jr. - Huffpost Blogger]

You should like this: "I'll never forget the huge crowd in Portland's waterfront park, roaring its approval of his bold calls for incremental change; his cutting-edge website, compromise.orgg"; the chants of "Yes We Might! Yes We Might!" rolling like thunder across that huge stadium the night he was nominated in Denver..." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/m.s.-bellows/the-new-hope-of-barack-ob_b_278511.html

Be sure to check out (and copy and spread!) the new "Hope" poster!

[musselmanm]

President Obama is becoming such a shill for corporations. He loves to trip on world relations while dropping concerns for American people who need so much help.
The American people that support business through purchases from local merchants that stock product which needs to be sold to move through inventory and create honest profit. We are the stimulus. We are once more being forgotten.
Who cares about the crazies?
We need to get on with recovering from the many Republic party cartels. My family and I have suffered financially very badly since DICK Nixon forced us to take wage freezes while lying about price freezes. I have learned over all these years to never trust a member of the Republic Party.
The clearest example of an oxymoron to me seems to be a jobless recovery.
Only a race to the bottom for American working families.T­he more things which are taken from the American working families by our corporate shills, the more radical I become. I supported our President with work, money and belief. I am becoming enl8ightened that we were all worked by our President.
Formerly a staunch union member and, I would like to tell working people all over the world, happy Labor day.
I hope that someday we will pay attention to the lies of our government and vote for the person that will bring relief to the the serf class that we are becoming.
Please continue to love our country and distrust our government!

[wdw505]

yawn

[musselmanm]

ERP YERZ

[Awake-and-Sing]

The Obamaniacs find truth telling very boring.

Nothing can penetrate their cult of personality.

[FrozenNorthObserver]

the mating call of a men*tal slo*th. Or as they are known around here a "Obot"

[FZliveson]

Hey---with all this talk about doctors, surgery and pharmaceuticals, how many of you guys are going to rush down and get some medicine for your gurgling stomachs? We need to drive costs down, train more doctors and paralegals, get a hold on mal-practice abuse, reel in outlandish insurance abuses and get some U.S.-made pharmaceuticals that are pure, economical and effective.­..for those who NEED them.
We are so bombarded with "Don't you feel a little bad...Don'­t you need some medicine?" commericals. This is manic and stupid. Let us concentrate on BEING and ACTING healthy and making the system support living well, not treating symptoms. We're being railroaded. Congress has a DIFFERENT HEALTH PLAN. The White House has a DIFFERENT HEALTH plan. Let them propose parity with them and I will get the idea they really care about the population.

[oldwhitewomantoo]

Bill Moyers was totally on target on that exact point. Until we stop allowing health care to be treated as a profit-center, those commercials will continue.

A member of my family has COPD (former smoker -- gave it up 10 years ago, so don't start on that one, ok?) & was prescribed Revatio (Pfizer product) for pulmonary hypertension. She doesn't have Medicare D which would cover her prescriptions. The co-pay after a very minor discount of about $15 was over $1300 for a 30-day supply. The pharmacist said that Pfizer has the monopoly on this product & rules the cost. My family member has decided NOT to take that medication.

Other name for Revatio? Have you heard of Viagra? Need I say more . . . except, "profit center"?

[dennisrs]

Tell you family member to take a look into the Pfizer direct program to those who can not afford the medicine.

[FZliveson]

oldwhitewo­mantoo...M­om had COPD too and a monthly bill that about equalled the "extra" money she had coming in after her mortgage payment. She had quit 30 years before.
She had so many medications and different doctors, if I hadn't sat down with a pharmacist to discuss the array of medications, she would have died from cross-over effects between the medications. Mom was only semi-coherent, seldom comfortable and the drug companies were dancing in the rain, 'til she died...the­n it all stopped cold.
Let's spend as much money on education as we do on people-mechanics and chemists.

[LemonMeringue]

President Obama should look at these photos from the health care vigils that went on in 60 cities on Wednesday.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/04/gene-green-townhall/

We do not need to be "soothed," we need to be heard and represented.

[peterbeagle]

did anyone see coverage of these demonstrations on MSM? I didn't.

[dennisrs]

Yeah I saw something on MSNBC I think when I was switching around a small group hanging together trying to light a candle or make a phone call I wasn't sure which.

[CEPHALUS]

Why are these people so stuck on liberals and progressives? I am a independent and i need a firm public option, it is the moral thing to do? quit bartering with people's health, it is the responsibility of government to keep the nation healthy period.
IT IS A WICKED AND ADULTEROUS GENERATION WHO WOULD DENY HEALTHCARE TO IT'S POOR. WE ARE NOW WORSE THAN THE CUMMUNIST .......OH.­.OH THEY PROVIDE FREE HEALTHCARE ,MY BAD.

[FresnoSanity]

They are stuck on “Liberals” and “Progressives” because they are painting us as radicals wanting to destroy the country. It is a lot easier to dismiss us that way. If we are crazy radicals, then whatever we want must be bad for everyone else. And never mind that a huge majority of people WANT a public option. It is the Wizard of Oz all over again, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

[dennisrs]

How about affordable Private Health Insurance? Would you like that over Government Health Care?

[bostongreen]

I'd rather have French healthcare.

[Osusuki]

No. I'm really tired of paying private health insurance companies to bring nothing to the table. If they can make insurance "affordable" with a 30% overhead margin, imagine how much less it would cost everyone with the same 4% overhead margin Medicare has. I'm tired of leaches, and you should be as well.

[FZliveson]

This is like getting a kid to eat vegetables.
You don't ask them if they want vegetables you say;
"Are you going to eat your broccoli or your lima beans?"
When you give two bad choices, infantile minds don't realize
there is a 3rd choice...e­at nothing.

Until a bill is presented that requires some competitive drug sales,
competitive insurance rates, Mal-practice and frivolous litigation prevention,
I think we're being asked; "Broccoli or Limas."
READ AND THINK things through all the way.

[Francesca1953]

I'd like President Obama to look at the Republicans during his address to congress and say: "The Democrats won...you were invited to join us on the bus. You've chosen not to, and now the bus is going to leave without you." And then actually DO what it is he told us he would do.

[LeftOfCenter44]

Faved. My sentiments to a tee.

[FrozenNorthObserver]

the problem is Big Health owns the bus, O took $20mil from them in 08

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?ind=H&cycle=2008&recipdetail=A&mem=Y&sortorder=U

[StillweRise]

yet he still goes up against them to improved the lives of 50 million americans.

more than republicans and blue dogs can say.

[M.S. Bellows, Jr. - Huffpost Blogger]

I've reworked the famous Fairey poster, and revisioned the Obama campaign, to fit the new reality: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/m.s.-bellows/the-new-hope-of-barack-ob_b_278511.html

[oldngrumpy]

Why can't he learn to chop wood? I would be happier now if he would just quietly slink away and return in time to campaign for the 2010 seats in congress. How many Democrats does it take to pass a Republican health care bill?

[seted]

A Republican health care bill? What is this mythical creature you speak of?

[sueinmn]

Could you also do a story on BlackWater (XE) and how they are presently contracted on our soil for protection ever since Katrina? If this is so I believe we are sponsoring an illegal Mercenary military for our government, by our government. Violating our constitution about the type of military we are to maintain. Thanks in advance. (thinks its something to look into atleast) Seems with our Guards overseas, homeland security has their own mercenaries on call and BlackWater no longer is a US company paying US taxes! Taking MUCH US money.

[Siebenstein]

How about

"Hope Later"

[musselmanm]

Fanned and favorite! Happy Labor Day!

[LeftOfCenter44]

http://www.change.org/actions/view/end_the_pay_to_play_campaign_practices
You could sign my petition.

[sueinmn]

Heres mine also.

http://www.petitiononline.com/CFC2009/petition.html

[LeftOfCenter44]

Signed it. Nice wording in your draft. I'll promote your petition on Twitter and on my web site LeftOfCenter44.com if you'll do the same for mine. Thank you.

[Thabit]

To soothe liberals ,Obama has 3 choices 1 Single payer (very soothed liberal) 2 Public option ( the least he can offer that doesnt have him facing a primary challenge in 2012) 3 Co-ops and options with triggers ( Mr president , meet the only friends you have left , Republicans and DINO'S )

[LemonMeringue]

2nd

[LeftOfCenter44]

#1- A dream come true. #2- Congrats Mr. President, You kept your word. #3- Sorry about the second election Mr. President but the DNC has decided to support The Bernie Sanders/ Sherrod Brown ticket this go round.