WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will seek to rally Congress to pass health care reform in a prime-time address tonight, even as lawmakers struggle to reach broad consensus on some of the toughest issues facing them in the debate.
Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., offered the president a glimmer of hope for compromise, circulating a detailed draft of the only Democratic reform proposal that has been assembled with significant Republican input.
In a meeting Tuesday, Baucus was unable to persuade his “Gang of Six” bipartisan negotiators to endorse the nearly $900 billion plan, which does not include many provisions that liberal lawmakers want in a final measure.
He gave his two Democratic and three Republican colleagues until 10 a.m. today to offer suggestions for improving the bill, which would require all U.S. citizens and legal residents to buy health insurance or carry coverage either through an employer, a public program or new insurance “exchanges” as of 2013.
Baucus said he continues to hold out hope that an agreement can be struck before Obama takes the podium at 6 p.m. MDT. But the Republican considered most likely to sign onto the plan, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, said she will wait to hear what the president has to say.
“I think I’d rather give it a few more days to work through some of these issues,” Snowe said.
Obama discussed his address with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., at the White House on Tuesday.
Reid said Obama’s goal is “to re-energize the way to do health care reform,” while clearing up “ridiculous falsehoods” repeated at town-hall meetings by opponents of the Democratic-led effort.
No backing away
Obama worked on the address with senior aides Tuesday morning. Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said he will not back away from the complexities of the reform effort or the tough politics that lie ahead.
After an intense summer of attacks, Jarrett said, Obama intends to “tell Americans directly what are the risks if we don’t do this and what are the rewards if we do it.”
One question lawmakers want Obama to discuss is the fate of the government-run, or public, insurance option.
Democrats say it would force competition among private insurers and guarantee affordable coverage for people not covered by their employers. But opponents say it could become a precursor to a government takeover of health care.
After meeting with Obama, Pelosi said he indicated support for a public option but would convey in his speech that “if you have a better idea, put it on the table.”
Meanwhile, two prominent House Democrats backed away from a public option Tuesday, providing at least some leeway for Obama. Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross, a leader of the 52-member Blue Dog coalition, said he could no longer back a government-run plan, a shift from his position just a few months ago.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said he supports a public option but could back legislation without it.
Some other leading liberals, including House Judiciary Committee chairman John Con yers Jr., D-Mich., pledged to vote against the final bill if the public option is dropped. Other Democrats said they expect Obama to frame the public option as an important objective, but not worth the price of failure.
GOP may come aboard
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., signaled in a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday that his party may be retreating from the “just say no” approach that proved so effective earlier this summer.
Doing nothing, he said, is not an option. “At this point, there really should be no doubt where the American people stand. The status quo is not acceptable, but neither are any of the proposals we’ve seen from the White House or Democrats in Congress,” he said.
What people want, McConnell said, is a less costly effort with a less ambitious scope. “They want reforms, but they want the right reforms,” he said.
Baucus still hopes the Senate Finance Committee measure will offer an attainable middle ground, because it includes provisions that were reached by consensus and could prove to be long lasting.
Instead of requiring all employers to offer insurance, as several other proposals do, Baucus suggests targeting only those with more than 50 full-time workers and only if their employees receive federal subsidies to buy insurance. His plan calls for employers in those circumstances to reimburse the government.
The idea appeals to champions of small business but worries liberals, who note it would give some companies a huge incentive not to hire people who earn between 133 percent and 300 percent of the federal poverty level, the group that would be eligible for subsidies.
The proposal also includes an alternative to a public option: 51 cooperatives that would function as nonprofit, member-run insurance programs.
Federal funding would underwrite startup costs, but the co-ops would eventually be independent entities.
The co-ops could not be government-run, but they also could not be affiliated with insurance providers.
While Baucus said the plan could be about “to break” toward winning support “from many more people,” he had yet to find favor Tuesday among his own negotiators.
Even the normally voluble Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., tersely summed up the discussions late Tuesday as “very professional.” As he left the Capitol, he added: “We’re not finished.”
