President Urges Congress to Hold Final Vote on Health Care Soon
by Neil Bomberg
In a speech designed to put pressure on Democrats and Republicans to pass health care reform, President Obama, on March 3, called on Congress to hold an up or down vote on his health care reform proposal. It is time to end this year-long debate, end the discussions, and end the demagoguery, he said, and vote for health care reform. The President then went on to indicate his support for the use of a legislative procedure known as reconciliation in which only simple majorities in both chambers are needed to pass legislation.
"Reform . . . deserves the same kind of up-or-down vote that was cast on welfare reform, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, COBRA health coverage for the unemployed and both Bush tax cuts — all of which had to pass Congress with nothing more than a simple majority," the President said.
Under this approach the House would pass the health bill passed by the Senate in December. The House and the Senate would then use reconciliation to pass a set of fixes to the bill, to satisfy the demands of lawmakers in the House. The rules concerning reconciliation prohibit filibusters, allowing Senate Democrats to approve the changes by a simple majority vote — a move intended to bypass a Republican caucus that remains united in its opposition to the legislation.
The speech, which was delivered at the White House to an assembly of doctors, nurses and their assistants, began by underscoring the similarities between the Democratic and Republican positions. “Where both sides agree is that the status quo does not work and health insurance is becoming more expensive by the day and no one can afford it."
The President went on to note, however, that how to deal with the rising costs of health care, the ineffective ways in which insurance companies ration coverage and the rapidly rising costs of Medicaid and Medicare are areas of substantial disagreement.
“Loosening regulations on insurance companies will not solve the problem,” he said “and starting all over again will only bring us to the same place a year from now.”
The President went on to say his proposal would end the worst practices by insurance companies including denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions and excessive premium increases like what occurred in California when Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield threatened to raise rates 39 percent. It would reduce substantially the cost of health care for all Americans through tax credits and other subsidies for those who cannot afford to purchase health insurance and reduce the federal deficit by more than $1 trillion over two decades.
The President closed by underscoring that this legislation is not about politics or political party, but about the American people who need health care coverage, and businesses who need to be able to afford health care for their workers. “People and the American economy cannot wait. The Congress owes the American people a final vote on health care reform,” he said.
NLC continues to support health care reform that provides affordable and appropriate health care coverage, helps reduce the overall growth in health care costs, treats cities and towns like any other employer and allows state municipal league risk pools to continue to operate.
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