Pelosi Says House Will Vote On Health Care Before August

By Learned Foote- Talk Radio News Service

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) emphasized that “we will be on schedule…to vote for [health care] legislation before we leave for the August recess” in a press conference on Monday.

“It is our plan to introduce our legislation tomorrow,” she continued. “It won’t be the finished product, it is…to be marked up in committee to go to the next step.”

Pelosi discussed the moderate Blue Dog Democrats who have expressed some concern about certain aspects of the health care legislation. She said that such give-and-take is commonplace during the legislative process.

“We’ve made a great deal of progress, I think we’re on schedule, and the conversations have been very productive. As you get toward the end, when you’re ready to introduce and then you go to the markup and the amendment process, is when you get some of the differentiation beyond the consensus that we have built to date. But from those conversations, I feel very confident that we will have strong health care reform,” Pelosi said.

Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) acknowledged that there have been “extensive and spirited discussions,” but emphasized that “to a person, the Blue Dogs believe we need to pass and they want to support health care reform… There is nobody with whom I’ve talked to in the caucus who doesn’t believe that health care reform is essential to do and do this year.”

Pelosi also emphasized the benefits of quick action on health care reform and several private citizens called for speedy action during the press conference. Pelosi said that reform will lower costs, improve the quality of health care and provide more choices to consumers and businesses.

“You’ll hear some of our opponents of reforming health care saying that this is putting government between you and your doctor,” she said. “That’s what they say, that is just the opposite. What we are doing is removing the health insurance company from between patients and their doctors. And in doing so, we’ll provide stability and peace of mind,” said Pelosi.