CNN:CNN has learned that the White House is quietly working to draft health care legislation after allowing Congress to work on its own for months.
Multiple sources close to the process told CNN Friday that while the plan is uncertain, they are preparing for the possibility they could deliver their own legislation to Capitol Hill sometime after the President Barack Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress Wednesday, with one source calling the possibility of new legislation a "contingency" approach if efforts by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus to craft a deal fall through. The sources spoke to CNN shortly before Baucus said that he may lay out a health care plan as soon as Saturday.
Multiple sources told CNN earlier in the day the thinking among administration officials was that the president will lay out a path to reform in his speech next week that the White House hopes can bridge the various differences in the competing proposals. Sources expect the president to emphasize the message: If Congress passes something now, it will serve as a foundation to pass further reform in the future.
If the White House is putting their money on Baucus's committee, it's a good thing they're hedging that bet, because that horse isn't just a loser, it's dead. The Hill is reporting that the Gang of Six is "on verge of collapse."
So we're probably going to wind up with Obama's bill. Here's the bad news; he's probably going with the "trigger" option. CNN again:
Under a 'trigger option', a new government-run health care plan would only go into effect if insurance companies fail to meet certain affordability standards with their own plans.
A source close to the White House says the administration is leaning toward dropping the public option, and continues to zero in on trying to convince Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe -- who has long pushed for a trigger option -- to come on board.
The trigger is basically a compromise. But it's a compromise that makes no sense. There's no reason to add a trigger unless you believe there's a good chance that the reforms will fail. All you'd wind up doing is giving the insurance industry time to lobby and launch a PR campaign before the trigger finally kicks in. It's the same mistake congress made by not working through the August recess, only this time insurers will probably have years instead of weeks to render a significant portion of the populace stupid.
For their part, CNN reports that House Democrats are sticking to their guns. In a conference call with House liberals, Obama asked them "to define what they mean when they call for a 'robust' public option," signalling that he's measuring them for a compromise.
"I think he would like to convince us that there is something sort of that could lead to a public option that would satisfy us, and guess what? It doesn't," said Rep. Lynne Woolsey (D-CA).
According to the report, "Both Woolsey and Rep Barbara Lee, D-California, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told CNN that they told the president point blank that they do not believe a health care proposal without a government run option is real reform."
So a showdown between House dems and the White House? Maybe. We'll know next week.
