Quote of the Day
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on August 24th, 2009 4:38 am by HL
Quote of the Day
“Nobody’s looking to make any news.”
— Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton, telling the press he had “specific instructions from the president… to relax” while on Martha’s Vineyard.
Will Democrats Go It Alone on Health Care?
“Senators from both parties are holding out hope for a bipartisan health care bill, but with a deal still elusive Democrats are eyeing an unpopular proposal to pass reform legislation under budget rules that would require the measure to get only 51 votes,” Roll Call reports.
Even Democrats on the Sunday morning talk shows “sounded wary of using the reconciliation process in order to pass a health reform bill.”
However, Bloomberg reports that Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders are considering “alternatives” to a bipartisan health-care bill amid continuing opposition from Republicans.
The Hill: “Schumer’s comments suggest Democratic leaders are starting to look to an endgame on health reform, which has dominated the political debate for months. It also could provide a shot in the arm to liberals in the party who have been frustrated with efforts by the Senate and White House to win GOP support for the bill.”
Missing Kennedy
Two Republican Senators said that Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) — who has been absent from the Senate for most of the year fighting brain cancer — was sorely missed during the health care debate. Both believe he could lead the way to a bipartisan bill.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on This Week: “No person in that institution is indispensable, but Ted Kennedy comes as close to being indispensable as any individual I’ve ever known in the Senate, because he had a unique way of sitting down with the parties at a table and making the right concessions, which really are the essence of successful negotiations. So it’s huge that he’s absent, not only because of my personal affection for him, but because I think that health care reform might be in a very different place today.”
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) on Meet the Press: “Well, Sen. Kennedy would, first thing he would have done, would have been call me and say, ‘Let’s work this out.’ And we would have worked it out so that the best of both worlds would work.”