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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN class=848075822-25012010>Earlier
today, a message from Dick Morris at</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN class=848075822-25012010><A
title=blocked::http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/2010/01/25/pelosi-and-reid-plot-secret-plan-for-obamacare/#more-710
href="http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/2010/01/25/pelosi-and-reid-plot-secret-plan-for-obamacare/#more-710">http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/2010/01/25/pelosi-and-reid-plot-secret-plan-for-obamacare/#more-710</A></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN class=848075822-25012010>revealed
the details of the Democratic leaders' plan to pass
Obamacare.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=848075822-25012010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN class=848075822-25012010>The AP
article below confirms these plans.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN
class=848075822-25012010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN class=848075822-25012010><STRONG><FONT
size=4>Art</FONT></STRONG> </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><A
title=blocked::http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100125/ap_on_re_us/us_health_care_overhaul_2
href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100125/ap_on_re_us/us_health_care_overhaul_2">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100125/ap_on_re_us/us_health_care_overhaul_2</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=6>Dem leaders coalesce on health care
strategy</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV class=byline><CITE class=vcard>By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press
Writer <SPAN class=848075822-25012010> </SPAN></CITE><ABBR
class=recenttimedate title=2010-01-25T14:33:23-0800>24 mins ago</ABBR>
</DIV><!-- end .byline -->
<DIV class="mod ad darla_ad" id=darla-ad__LREC> </DIV>
<DIV class="mod ad darla_ad">WASHINGTON – Democratic congressional leaders are
coalescing around their last, best hope for salvaging <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1264458824_0>President Barack Obama</SPAN>'s sweeping <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1264458824_1>health care overhaul</SPAN>.</DIV>
<P>Their plan is to pass the Senate bill with some changes to accommodate House
Democrats, senior Democratic aides said Monday. Leaders will present the idea to
the rank and file this week, but it's unclear whether they have enough votes to
carry it out.</P>
<P>Last week's victory by Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts cost Democrats
the 60th vote they need to maintain undisputed control of the Senate,
jeopardizing the outcome of the <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1264458824_2>health
care bill</SPAN> just when Obama had brokered a final deal on most of the major
issues.</P>
<P>"We've put so much effort into this, so much hard work, and we were so close
to doing some significant things. Now we have to find the political path that
brings us out. And it's not easy," the No. 2 Senate Democrat, <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1264458824_3>Dick Durbin</SPAN> of Illinois, said
Monday.</P>
<P>The new strategy is as politically risky as it is bold. There is widespread
support for Obama's goals of expanding coverage to nearly all Americans while
trying to slow costs. But polls show the public is deeply skeptical of the
Democratic bills, and Republicans would certainly accuse Democrats of ignoring
voters' wishes.</P>
<P>Obama initially voiced doubts last week that a comprehensive bill was still
viable, but he now seems to be pushing for it. Asked Monday if the president was
backing away from his pursuit of major changes, <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1264458824_4>White House spokesman Robert Gibbs</SPAN> responded:
"No."</P>
<P>"I think the president believes that the circumstances that led him to
undertake greater security for people in their health care ... existed last
year, last week, and this week," Gibbs added.</P>
<P><SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1264458824_5>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi</SPAN>,
D-Calif., said last week she does not have the votes to pass the Senate bill
without changes. Democratic congressional aides, speaking on condition of
anonymity because the issue is in flux, said the latest strategy involves using
a special budget procedure to revise the Senate bill.</P>
<P>The procedural route — known as reconciliation — would allow a majority of 51
senators to amend their bill to address some of the major substantive concerns
raised by the House. That would circumvent the need for a 60-vote majority to
hold off Republican delaying tactics.</P>
<P>The remaining alternatives are unappealing: scaling back the <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1264458824_6>health care bill</SPAN> to less
controversial, smaller pieces, or setting it aside altogether.</P>
<P>Momentum is growing to pass the Senate bill with compromises agreed on by the
president and congressional leaders, said Ron Pollack, executive director of
<SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1264458824_7>Families USA</SPAN>, a <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1264458824_8>liberal advocacy group</SPAN>. "Are they
there yet? No," he said.</P>
<P>Among those arguing for a quick strike on health care is <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1264458824_9>David Plouffe</SPAN>, the political adviser
who helped elect Obama president and has just been summoned back by the <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1264458824_10>White House</SPAN> to help coordinate this
year's elections.</P>
<P>"I know that the short-term politics are bad," Plouffe argued in a Washington
Post op-ed. "But politically speaking, if we do not pass it, the <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1264458824_11>GOP</SPAN> will continue attacking the plan
as if we did anyway, and voters will have no ability to measure its upside."
Among the immediate benefits: allowing dependent children to stay on their
parents' coverage into their mid-twenties, and assistance for seniors in the
Medicare prescription coverage gap.</P>
<P>How the new legislative strategy would work has not been fully determined.
Would the House vote with only an assurance the Senate will make fixes?</P>
<P>One problem is that it may not be possible to resolve all the significant
differences between the House and Senate bills through the special budget
procedure. Only changes that affect taxes and <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1264458824_12>government spending</SPAN> would normally be allowed to pass
with a majority of 51 senators, rather than a 60-vote majority.</P>
<P>It's unclear that other major disputes — for example, how to restrict
taxpayer funding for abortions — could be settled similarly. On abortion, the
House bill is more restrictive than the Senate version.</P>
<P>"Provisions that have no budgetary effect would clearly run afoul," said
James R. Horney, a former Senate Democratic budget aide now with the <SPAN
class=yshortcuts id=lw_1264458824_13>Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities</SPAN>.</P>
<P>That means Democrats might be able to resolve differences between the House
and Senate on economic issues: taxing high-cost insurance plans, closing the
coverage gap in the Medicare prescription benefit, and providing subsidies to
help middle-income households pay <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1264458824_14>insurance premiums</SPAN>. Yet they still could be left with
a bill that cannot pass both the House and Senate.
<P><FONT size=5>Abortion opponents say they will count any House vote for the
current Senate bill as favoring new <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1264458824_15>government subsidies</SPAN> for abortion. "I suggest they do
it the other way around, fix it first and then pass it," said Douglas Johnson,
legislative director for <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1264458824_16>National
Right to Life</SPAN>. "Members will be held accountable for what they actually
vote for. It really doesn't do to say, `I voted for something, but I was against
it.'" </FONT>
<P>___
<P>Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this
report.</P></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY>
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