Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) says that if the Senate does not pass a health care bill, the Senate will most likely not re-visit the issue for a “very long time.” He says before voting against a health care bill, one must think about the consequences of keeping the present system intact. (0:25)
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI.) accuses Congress of rushing through the health care bill and not allowing public debate. (0:45)
By Mariko Lamb-Talk Radio News Service
A number of Democratic Senators said during a press conference Wednesday that the Senate Finance Committee will have a bipartisan health care bill passed by the end of this year, but accused Republicans and health insurance companies of hindering the bill’s progress.
“Republicans’ role in this is all about ‘slow down, stop, and no’… that’s what the Republican leadership has been all about,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
Republicans are implementing their “irresolution resolution,” said fellow HELP Committee member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). “Despite all the stories of real Americans: their heartache, their frustration, their anger, ultimately even their disgust with the health care system they’re trapped in, [Republicans continue to] turn the most desperate domestic policy crisis in our country into political theater.”
In response to recent town hall protests against health care reform, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (W.V) said these protests disrupt the message. “The story becomes the disruption, not the message,” he said. “We’re utterly, desperately serious about it and we’re trying to interpret it to the people we represent who in our states desperately need it. We’re precluded from doing so by these types of tactics.”
“We’re still struggling in the Finance Committee, and that’s okay, because one thing that I’m very certain about is that we’re going to have a health care bill…and we’re going to have it by the end of this year,” he added.
“There is no Republican health care plan out there,” says Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in response to what he described as the Republican “misinformation campaign” that is slowing health care reform efforts. He says Republicans are satisfied with the status quo and “don’t want to show the American people where they stand on these issues.” (0:33)
Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), a former nurse, says the health reform bill making its way through Congress recognizes the role nurses play in our nation’s health care system by providing more funding and education to nursing programs. (:19)
By Laura Woodhead – Talk Radio News Service
Spending on the health care bill will be uncontrollable unless the House sets priorities, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said at her weekly press briefing Thursday.
“We have to establish priorities otherwise the bill is endless, so we have to contain it,” she said. “I have told members as early as this morning, squeeze out what you can out of the system. Savings, savings, savings.”
Contrary to opposition claims, Pelosi stressed that the bill would not be funded by new taxes on health benefits.
“This bill will be paid for,” Pelosi said. “We will not be taxing health benefits on any legislation that comes from the House.”
Pelosi questioned the integrity of House Minority Leader John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) pledge that he would not vote for Health Care until he had read the entire bill. “Is this a pledge that is in keeping with his having read every bill he has ever voted for?”
The Speaker avoided questions concerning letters sent from Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee to the CIA director, in which the committee accused him of misleading members during a committee appearance.
“I know as much as you do,” she said. “I have seen the letters and obviously [the committee members] have concern.”
Pelosi did, however, respond to a question regarding a proposed resolution to honor Michael Jackson.
“I do not think it is necessary,” she said. “A resolution would open up contrary views that are not necessary at this time.”
Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa) speaks about having a health care bill ready for the President to look at by the fall. Sen. Casey says Congress has a lot of work to do over the Summer to meet that deadline. (:59)
