Hoyer and Boehner on This Week June 13

Regarding Obama's letter on $50 billion in funding to local, state governments, Steny Hoyer says there is spending fatigue, but the economy needs to be stimulated. I'd like to see what happens without spending. Odd bird Boehner says Americans are screaming "stop" and I think more and more, that's true. So let's stop.

If a spending freeze drops this nation into a depression, so be it. We're living more and more in a dog eat dog culture, only the fittest (those with the most money) survive. In reality, the opposite is true. If you don't care for your most vulnerable, all of the dogs get eaten. No one wins.

Boehner wants to lift the liability cap on BP. Excellent. That means it should be a done deal.

Obama Calls for Another Bipartisan Meeting April 14

Obama with the gang in February

Obama is planning to meet with Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, according to Politico.

House Democrats Ready to Forgo Public Option

Bloomberg news reports that Steny Hoyer has announced that House republicans are ready to forgo a public option and the last minute idea of expanding Medicare. Bloomberg doesn't allow video embedding so you'll have to watch it here.

I'm wondering about a trigger. Is the trigger out the window as well? But don't count on any republicans to vote on the final bill, except for Olympia Snowe and perhaps Susan Collins.

I think the democrats paid an inordinate amount of attention to the public option and now they're having too many troubles putting together the other pieces of the healthcare bill. They got caught up in politics and they got distracted by the tea partiers, and I, for one, am disappointed by that. But at the very least we'll have a start to healthcare reform and people will benefit, just not as many.
Right around now, Obama is meeting with the democrats as the tea partiers rally against the bill:

"President Obama will tell senators that that they've come much farther than any previous reform effort, and that the lion's share of the work is behind us," said Dan Pfeiffer, White House communications director. "He'll underscore that now is the time to come together and finish shaping legislation that will garner 60 votes and pass the Senate in short order."

"He will make it clear that the American people should not have to wait another decade or more for legislation," Pfeiffer said.

"I think what we need to hear from the president is how we get the unity in our caucus for 60 votes. We don't want a pep talk," liberal Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., told reporters Tuesday. "We want to see a president who will be committed to some of the concerns that many of us have without a public option — do you really have accountability on private insurance." MSNBC

Tea partiers led by Laura Ingraham, Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint are rallying against healthcare:

The White House meeting coincides with a Capitol Hill rally planned by conservative activists opposed to the bill, with speakers including talk radio host Laura Ingraham and Republican Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint.

Opponents are stepping up their criticism as Senate Democratic leaders push hard to finish the bill. To that end the Democratic leadership indicated Monday night following a senators-only meeting that it was prepared to jettison an expansion of Medicare, initially proposed as a backup to the government option. MSNBC

House Leadership Speaks on House Healthcare Bill Video

"We had a very uplifting meeting," said Representative James Clyburn on the leadership's meeting with Obama.
"...On this day when we will be making history with our vote," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Let's hope so.

Contrast that with this:

Hoyer Touts House Healthcare Bill

Chuck Todd's tweet on Obama's response to the House bill:

Obama on House health care bill: "clearly meets two of the fundamental criteria I have set out" fully paid for; "will reduce the deficit."

The bill will be posted online:

The House Democratic leadership is working to post the text of the final bill online early next week and has agreed to give members 72 hours to read it before a vote. Under that timetable, the House would begin debating the bill at the end of next week.
Any bill passed by the House of Representatives will eventually have to be merged with legislation passed by the Senate. Both chambers would then have to pass a revised measure before sending it to President Obama to be signed into law. CNN

Nancy Pelosi:

The nearly 2,000 page bill -- a combination of three different versions passed by House committees -- would cost $894 billion over 10 years and extend insurance coverage to 36 million uncovered Americans, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
It guarantees that 96 percent of Americans have coverage, Pelosi said. The figure is based on an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Among other things, the bill would subsidize insurance for poorer Americans and create health insurance exchanges to make it easier for small groups and individuals to purchase coverage. It would also cap annual out-of-pocket expenses and prevent insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.
Pelosi's office said the bill would cut the federal deficit by roughly $30 billion over the next decade. The measure is financed through a combination of a tax surcharge on wealthy Americans and spending constraints in Medicare and Medicaid. CNN

Republican Leadership Takes Turns Knocking Healthcare Reform

The House republicans hold a carp and gripe session. They say Obama's plan is the "wrong prescription for America."
Eric Cantor says the public option is stopping the nation from progressing on other issues, such as the economy. John Boehner takes a turn to say that seniors will lose healthcare coverage. Mike Pence says republicans are on the side of the American people. He encourages people to continue to "engage" at town halls. Blah, blah, blah. Same old.
The only positive thing mentioned was Cantor said Steny Hoyer has reached out to him. Hoyer wants to meet with Cantor on healthcare and Cantor appears agreeable.

Obama: Reducing Deficit Through PayGo Video

Pay as you go is simple--you can only spend a dollar if you save a dollar, Obama says.

Steny Hoyer On Meeting With Geithner

Nancy Pelosi Too Left For Our Own Good?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesn't inspire much and seems to be too divisive. It's not as if everything needs to be plugged into this bill. Pelosi is acting as if this is the last piece of legislation ever to be written. She's got to give a little. I think she needs a nap.

NYT: Ms. Pelosi and the House majority leader, Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland, would not offer up possible items they would be willing to sacrifice when negotiators tried to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate bills.

As far as the criticisms that have arisen over the fact that Republican support for the legislation has been hard to attract, despite President Obama’s calls for bipartisanship, Ms. Pelosi said, “Washington seems consumed in this process argument about bipartisanship when the rest of the country says they need this bill.”

A few sentences later, she said Democrats were sounding a drumbeat across the country about the benefits of the stimulus bill and would step up their efforts and their energy to sell the package. Describing the pride representatives had taken in the product of this bill, she pledged that they would not let “a false argument about process eclipse” the enormity of what the legislation could accomplish.