Gibbs: "We Have Today A Bipartisan Bill"

There may be just one Republican member of the entire Congress who publicly states her support for health care legislation. And that member may stress that her vote could change as the legislation is modified. But the White House is already claiming a small victory in achieving bipartisan consensus for reform

"Sure," said spokesman Robert Gibbs, when asked if Sen. Olympia Snowe's (R-ME) decision to vote for the Senate Finance Committee bill meant the legislation had bipartisan support.

"We have today a bipartisan bill," he offered later. "So we seem to have checked both boxes [bipartisanship and a bill that enhances choice and competition.]"

The White House, indeed, was rather gleeful and relieved to see that Snowe had bucked the desires of every other elected Republican in Washington. The president, said Gibbs, had not talked to the Maine Republican in the days leading up to today's finance committee vote. But he was engaged in the overall process and pleased with the outcome -- a 14-9 vote to pass legislation out of committee.

"That all five committees that have jurisdiction of the important issue of health care will have reported a bill out which will be the first time that's ever happened in our history,' said Gibbs. "That is an exceedingly important step."

Going forward, Gibbs said that he predicted the president would sign health care reform into law "this year," which means that legislation will have had to make it through both chambers of Congress before Christmas recess. Obama, he said, would remain an active participant in the process, though, at this juncture, he still would not draw lines in the sand in terms of what bill (and specific reform proposals) he preferred. In a line that seemed to indicate the president would sign the Senate Finance Committee's version of legislation into law -- despite the fact that it does not include a public plan for coverage -- Gibbs declared:

"I think by many accounts you've got legislation that does many of the things the president hoped it would do and quite frankly, as I said earlier, what many in America want to see in health care reform. We understand this is the first step in that process and we hope as we go forward we will have members in the House and Senators that will continue to work constructively, as Sen. Snowe did, in gaining a solution toward."

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Comments

[bigsioux]

You're fired dumb A$$!!!

[NCAV2]

You can tell right now the final bill is going to be less than stellar because of these Democrat's ridiculous fascination of "bipartisanship."

[itys]

one republican vote does not make bipartisan, you id10t.

[dmsdzinr]

YO Gibby, it is just the beginning and enjoy the "bipartisanship" for a day....it won't last as the bill moves forward. The LESS bipartisanship, at this point, the BETTER the bill will be. Without a STRONG PUBLIC OPTION this reform will be NO REFORM!!!

[uglygnome]

i d i o t

[waldenpp]

lol, bipartisan - what a clown.

[pj-smith]

Gibbs turned into a hack the minute Obama was elected.

[lillebabu]

To all those PROUD LIBERALS gathered here today :
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-I might remind you of a great friend that got us this far:
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__________­­­­­______­_­_­_­_­__­''­Fo­r all those whose cares have been our concern___­­­­­______­_­_­_­_­__­_ __________­­­­­______­_­_­_­_­__­__­__­__­_­_­_­the work goes on________­­­­­______­_­_­_­_­__­__­__­__­_­_­_­___­__ __________­­­­­______­_­_­_­_­__­__­__­__­_­_­_­the cause endures___­­­­­______­_­_­_­_­__­__­__­__­_­_­_­___­__­_­__­_ __________­­­­­______­_­_­_­_­__­__­__­__­_­_­_­the hope still lives_____­­­­­______­_­_­_­_­__­__­__­__­_­_­_­___­__­_­_ __________­­­­­______­_­_­_­_­__­_a­nd the dream shall NEVER d.i.e''___­­­­­______­_­_­_­_­__­__­__­__­_­_­_­___­__
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R.I.P Teddy and all those that have passed needlessly. gone but not forgotten-
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Single Payer or a strong PO (.)

[rhurc]

booorrrrrr­iiinnnnggg­ggg

[lillebabu]

yet another PRIME example of the right wing that think and respect only themselves...and plainly don't care about ANYONE that d.1es and or has ...

...good luck with that ..( you will find yourself alone in the end)

[Philclock]

Message from Nancy:

Don't Bogart that bill, my friend, pass it over to me....

Roll another one, just like the other one,

You've been holding on to it, sure would like another hit.

[masher]

"Bipartisan" is this administrations excuse for corporate welfare. Obama loves to give away money to the rich and the super-rich. He wanted a health care bill that transfer wealth from working families to the Wall Street elite and that is what he got.

Congratulations Obama.

[ilse]

masher,

What you say is pure bull. It's obvious you spend too much time listening to the trash that glen beck and faux fox news spews. George Bush is the one who loves to give away money to the rich and the super-rich. Remember the tax cuts George Bush gave to the rich and the middle class got nothing? President Obama is just the opposite. He has seen how all these years the rich have benefited and the middle class just gets poorer. He's in office to help the middle class and not the rich. Get your facts straight instead of spewing lies and BS. We're fed up with the rightwing BS.

[BeyondKen]

Actually 'musher', under the Obama administration quite a few companies that received bailouts have returned the money.

[Seattlelite]

These people in WA truly live on another planet.....THE MAJORITY of Americans don't give a dam about bipartisanship! if that were the case democrats wouldn't have control of the house. Stop messing around wasting time trying to get republicans on board and do what we elected you to do!!

[lonbwoy]

Bipartisan??, really., now that's funny!!

[Ozarks]

Well Gibbs be ready for a bi partisan bath in 2010.

[Nonamnesiac]

This Bill is an outrage. Obama, the Republicans and the Dems are simply working to jam this subsidies-­­for-the-h­e­alth-ins­ur­ers-and­-dr­ug-pus­hers Bill right down the throats of the US electorate over their vigorous objections. This Bill allows the insurers and drug pushers (drug companies) to raise premiums, deductibles, co-pays, cost-sharing and drug prices while reducing the benefits they provide. At the same time it uses tax-payer subsidies to cover a larger percentage of Americans with mediocre health insurance while causing those with good plans to lose benefits as their costs massively increase. The health insurers have already promised to raise premiums if it passes. All this Bill will do is make us pay more for less while still guaranteeing bankruptcy as the end result for most who have catastrophic illnesses or injuries.

As if that's not bad enough, the mandate for coverage is not on employers or the government, it's on the hard-working people who are alreadly contributing more for coverage than people anywhere else on the planet per capita.

It's obvious if these thieves -- Obama, Baucus, Conrad, Landrieu, Lincoln and the Republicans -- want to reduce the deficit it must come from their favorite useless wars by safely, immediately withdrawing all US troops and contractor forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and ending Bush's and Reagan's tax cuts for the wealthy. They should not be refusing quality, universal, nearly-free health to all Americans as budget reduction or even budget neutrality.

Americans --- howl.

[ilse]

I can agree with most of your list of thieves, but how dare you add president Obamas name next to theirs. I love how some of you turn rabid against our president when his only intent is to make sure he gets us an affordable public option. Are you unaware that we still have quite a way to go on this and changes will be made before an actual healthcare bill is signed by president Obama. This Baucus healthcare bill is the first step in the right direction and I really wish some of you would back off and let the democrats and president Obama do what they need to do. Don't make insane comments calling our president a thief when you have absolutely no idea what will be in the final healthcare bill. If you're not happy with the end result, then you can complain, but right now they are still working on it and the Baucus bill is not the final healthcare bill.

[emncaity]

Why do I give a sh$% if the bill is bipartisan? I care if it's good. Period.

When did government become something like working on the junior-high float project, where everybody gets a say?