Emanuel, Pelosi Meet In Capitol To Chart Health Care Course

Rahm Emanuel ventured to the Capitol Friday evening to hash out health care strategy with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a White House aide confirmed.

The meeting comes as Democrats are searching for a way to get to the health care finish line, though neither chamber wants to move first. Senate leaders want the House to pass the Senate bill first, after which the Senate would use reconciliation to fix the legislation to the liking of the Senate. House leaders contend that the votes aren't there for the Senate bill if the upper chamber doesn't move. The House, after two centuries of watching the Senate lag behind, doesn't trust that it'll act.

Senior Hill aides speculated to HuffPost that Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, would bring the message that the House must move first, with a pledge from Senate Democrats that they would follow. It's hard to make amendments to a law through reconciliation if that law hasn't been made official yet, they argue.

Pelosi's office wouldn't confirm that the meeting, which was still ongoing as of the early evening, was taking place or comment on what Pelosi's reaction might be. A White House aide said he was unsure what message Emanuel would deliver.

The meeting comes after Pelosi got under the skin of Senate Democrats on Wednesday by making a veiled challenge at a press conference. "We can't say to [the American people], at the end of the day, well, we had an idea, we had a vision, we had a majority, but the process did not allow us to make a change for your lives," she said. "We need to have the courage to get the job done, and I think we will. And I think today took us a step closer to passing health care."

Comments

[AnnC0725]

01:02 PM on 03/02/2010

Two creeps staring at eachother.­.sends chills...a­nd incites vomit.

[AudreyinGA]

08:40 PM on 02/28/2010

We are not going to continue to pay these high a** premiums. We might do better paying as we go or
just flooding the emergency rooms. At this point in life, America only needs free education, including
public colleges and universiti­es, free health care, and military defense. Eliminate FHA. I think we have
enough housing. Democrats Rule!!!

[One more Thing]

05:57 AM on 02/28/2010

I am not sure these two people, together or separately­, are mean enough to do battle with McConnell and Boehner.

[jfruge]

02:20 PM on 02/28/2010

Alan Grayson and Norm Coleman should join the party.

[JayRobThom]

05:19 AM on 02/28/2010

Having Rahm Emanuel charting a course for healthcare is like letting cancer cells dictate your medical treatment.

[repugnicansfearme]

11:08 PM on 02/27/2010

Enough. Hasn't Rahm-O (rhymes with A** Hole) gotten enough publicity, for doing absolutely nothing since Jan. 20 of 2009?

[Truthb4u]

01:07 AM on 02/28/2010

I am told he is a man that operates behind the scenes. I am not sure what he accomplish­ed with Pelosi, but he sure put a smile on her face.

[mikelz]

02:49 PM on 02/28/2010

I don't know about that smile either. However, you are right. The White House Chief of Staff is not supposed to be a public figure. Transparen­cy is nice but we are never going to see everything that goes on nor should we.

[jjsardo]

11:03 PM on 02/27/2010

The Adam and Eve of health insurance reform, what a pair.

Instead of getting us thrown out of the garden, however, they’re trying to keep us from getting in. No single payer, no Medicare buy in, no public option or one that is so ridiculous­ly weak it hardly lives up to its name. And at the end of the primrose path these two are leading us down is a profit windfall for the health insurance industry, a big bucks bonanza, the Garden of Eden!

Apple anyone? Take a bite of this fruit and the taxpayer will end up subsidizin­g the insurance industry to the tune of billions.

I have the sick feeling that Rahm is going to shove this apple down our throats whether we like it or not.

He and Nancy are desperatel­y trying to cobble together something, anything Obama can sign and proclaim reform. But however trashy it is, it will have to pass insurance industry muster.

The Dems may seem to be getting a little nervous but not nervous enough to pass real reform. Reform or campaign cash? That is the question. What a dilemma!

My bet. They should win the gold in the boodle race hands down.

Before this is over though they may want to stock up on some duct tape, just in case no one is fooled by their charade. Our dynamic duo will need a lot of it to keep their party of “not quite” from falling apart come Election Day.

[max hp]

09:23 PM on 02/27/2010

**********­**********­**********­* RECONCILIA­TION - THE WAY FORWARD **********­**********­**********­**

So far, it's been a waste of TIME, a waste of OUR MONEY and A SQUANDERED OPPORTUNIT­Y.

A team of lawers should be buzzing around the WH looking for CREATIVE ways of using RECONCILIA­TION with the Senate's 51 majority. He should be sitting down with Reid and Pelosi RIGHT NOW to discuss the way forward to come up with a plan to get HCR done in 30 days.

YES, 30 DAYS. ENOUGH TIME HAS BEEN WASTED.

Screw the Repugnants­, screw AMA, screw AHIP, screw Pharma, screw the Insurance companies, screw the Financial Institutio­ns. Just do what the People want you to do - The Peoples' business.

..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­...... FORGET THE 60-VOTE NONSENSE ..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­.....

Stop susidizing benefits to all federal employees till ALL Americans have health insurance.

Pass a Public Option and/or Medicare Buy-in available to ANY AMERICAN who wants it.
Eliminate the Anti-trust exemption for Insurance companies.
Remove the ban on drug re-importa­tion.

Impose a 95% tax rate for any total compensati­on that exceeds 25 times the poverty level.
Remove the income cap on Social Security tax.

Impose stiff penalties for any job exported with an exemption if two local jobs are created for each one exported.

REGULATE the banks STIFFLY; they can be banks or investment houses, NOT BOTH.

..........­......We would rather have 100% of what we want with 51 votes than 51% with 100 votes.....­..........­.

**********­**********­**********­**** It's time to STEP UP and DELIVER **********­**********­**********­*******

----------­----------­----------­----Action with RESULTS that matter to the people----­----------­----------­----------­------

[silverlincoln]

09:35 PM on 02/27/2010

MAXHP, your post leaves out one enormous line that sort of sums it up:

SCREW THE AMERICAN PEOPLE////­//////////­////

[max hp]

09:46 PM on 02/27/2010

Nop Einstein.

That's the Insurance Industry logo.

[thegreatstu]

10:24 PM on 02/27/2010

In all of your rant and raving, you forgot one small detail when it comes to reconcilia­tion; the house has to pass the senate bill. We all know that Pelosi does not have the votes to pass the senate bill. There may be some arm twisting going on, but in the end, “We the People” will have scared the dems straight. The dems should have listened to the people; start over and work together with the other party.

[marinade]

10:36 PM on 02/27/2010

Tea Partiers = Arm Chair Revolution­aries

[max hp]

01:05 AM on 02/28/2010

I didn't have much detail - I don't know enough about process.

As you can see, the post makes very clear straightfo­rward points that anybody with even a high school education can understand­.

When you know what you want, it's easier to say it.

The other reason for avoiding much discussion about process is that people care about action and results, NOT PROCESS.

Action with results that matter to the people.

Inclusion of a Public Option and/or a Medicare Buy-in available to ANY AMERICAN who wants it would be sufficient to be labeled a start over.

[thepheonix]

09:00 PM on 02/27/2010

The primary problem for Democratic leaders is the House. That chamber approved its bill 220-215 in November. But one of those "yes" votes came from the only Republican who supported the bill, Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana, who now says he will oppose the bill. Three other "yes" votes came from Reps. John Murtha, D-Pa., who d.ied this month, Robert Wexler, D-Fla., who has left the House, and Neil Abercrombi­e, D-Hawaii, who retires this weekend to run for governor of his state.

In fact, Democrats following the legislatio­n say House Democratic support for the legislatio­n has sunk to 200 votes or less in recent weeks, following the stunning GOP victory in last month's special Massachuse­tts Senate election and the bill's modest showing in polls.

[Bond007]

08:53 PM on 02/27/2010

I don't think Rahm cares at all for the public option. He is probably talking to Nancy so she can turn down her campaign for the Public Option. You gotta love Nancy,, she got more cojones than many guys in the senate. jmo

[Star2000dancer]

10:11 PM on 02/27/2010

How can you even stand Pelosi? She's a lying, phoney, greedy , destructiv­e person. Look what she let happen to California­. She needs to get out. Put an honest person in there.

[marinade]

10:28 PM on 02/27/2010

Don't you mean Feinstein?

[max hp]

12:57 AM on 02/28/2010

SHE IS THE DELIVERER.

[Moliere]

06:15 PM on 02/28/2010

hear hear!

[GoogleMaster]

08:52 PM on 02/27/2010

"The House, after two centuries of watching the Senate lag behind, doesn't trust that it'll act."

ya think?

[ilse]

08:45 PM on 02/27/2010

Our message to Congress: You work for us, not for corporatio­ns. We hired you and we get to fire you. We pay you and give you great health insurance. Now get to work serving the interests of the American people, or get out.

Anyone who wants our government to function in the interest of ordinary Americans, not corporatio­ns, is welcome to join this movement.

Join the Coffee Party Movement

http://www­.facebook.­com/coffee­party

[Billit]

09:29 PM on 02/27/2010

Who is we?

[thegreatstu]

09:36 PM on 02/27/2010

There is already a movement doing the exact same thing; it is called the Tea Party Movement..­.I know, it is not a liberal idea, but hey, seems we want the same thing; responsibl­e government­. Or are you looking for more government handouts? If that is the case, then we do have some difference­s on the role of the federal government­.

[marinade]

10:29 PM on 02/27/2010

That's right, the Tea Party "movement" isn't a liberal idea.

It's a FoxNews idea.

[fuelie]

08:39 PM on 02/27/2010

The Republican Party and their health insurance company buddies are terrorizin­g America with their lies, deceit, distortion­s, scare tactics, whining, paranoia, mumbo jumbo and whatever to regain power and the majority.

They are trying to move America back to the 20TH century -- BC, not AD.

I don't think the majority of Americans believe their lies, but the 2010 elections will be the deciding factor. The American people are not as dumb and stupid as the GOP thinks they are, especially the young, computer literate, and Internet savvy generation­.

[Star2000dancer]

10:00 PM on 02/27/2010

Yoo hoo! Did you know this?

Chapter 1 – The House of Bush: Born in a Bank " TARPLEY.ne­t
Chapter 1 – The House of Bush: Born in a Bank. Who is George Bush? How did he become the ... He is said to be a man of the "old establishm­ent," who "chose to seek his ...

[DAVID POSTER]

09:28 PM on 03/02/2010

I thank you for the link...the Bush family is not known as well as they should be!

http://tar­pley.net/

[thegreatstu]

10:16 PM on 02/27/2010

Wow, are you ever in for a rude awakening.­..Did Massachuse­tts not teach you anything? It is people like you who continue to spew the crap that you do that are chasing away the very people that you need to keep the dems in the majority in congress. You need to get a grip on reality; no matter how bad the republican­s are, the dems are far worse, and the voting majority knows this. 2010 is the Second American Revolution­. For better or worse, the Republican­s will make huge gains in both houses, and may in fact become the majority party. I will cherish the day when I get to say, “I told you so.” That day is only about 8 months away…

[marinade]

10:34 PM on 02/27/2010

If Republican­s take over because of the "Second American Revolution­", you are in for a rude awakening. NOTHING will change. Republican­s sit by and let one crisis happen after another. They even creates their own crises like the Iraq war. That was a smooth move.

[fuelie]

05:14 AM on 02/28/2010

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. As I said, the 2010 elections will be the deciding factor and Obama actually mentioned that in his closing remarks on Thursday.

Did you know that the GOP introduced a health care bill during the Clinton administra­tion?

I wonder how many pages the 1993 Republican sponsored "Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act" contained when Clinton was in office.

http://www­.kaiserhea­lthnews.or­g/Graphics­/2010/0223­10-Bill-co­mparison.a­spx

http://www­.kaiserhea­lthnews.or­g/Stories/­2010/Febru­ary/23/GOP­-1993-heal­th-reform-­bill.aspx

http://tho­mas.loc.go­v/cgi-bin/­bdquery/z?­d103:SN017­70:@@@L&su­mm2=m�0;tatus

I printed the 1770 bill and the 2 versions of related bill 1757 to PDF. Here are the results.

Bill 1770 − 163 PDF pages long

Bill 1757 − 393 PDF pages long

Bill 1757 2nd version 436 PDF pages long.

And now, the GOP can only come up with a blank sheet of paper for health reform.

The Republican­s belong at the bottom of the sea along with 75% of the lawyers in this country, including the majority of Supreme Court Justices. They all want to keep us in the dark ages.

The Democrats should rule this country for the next 1,000 years so we can finally move forward and become an intelligen­t, mature, peaceful, and civilized society of sentient life forms on Spaceship Earth.

[Chise67]

08:18 PM on 02/27/2010

Let's re-frame this whole conversati­on & see what is the result, here goes:

What if terrorist were killing 45,000 Americans a year in America, what would be your thoughts on doing all we could to stop this, no matter the cost, or would the deficit be the main objective?

Well, I ask because 45,000 AMERICANS are dying per year due to lack of health care access, but no one seems to give a flying....­..........­.!

[Star2000dancer]

10:03 PM on 02/27/2010

Why do you not care about the over 1000 Americans who die from misdiagnos­is? That's over a half million Americans per year. Plus the people who are disabled from misdiagnos­is and drug side effects.

[mikelz]

03:05 PM on 02/28/2010

Pardon me but I think you just missed something. What does insurance reform have to do with how good our docs are?

[DAVID POSTER]

09:34 PM on 03/02/2010

You make a good point...bu­t is OT at this time.
That will be addressed later...an­d soon!

[Gretel1or2]

08:10 PM on 02/27/2010

What a lovely couple!!

[daisy111]

08:06 PM on 02/27/2010

I hope they are working on their resumes!