ok i said to early for post, but here is one, lol
Emanuel: Changes To Health System Take Time
by April Fulton ,Ron Edmonds
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106946745White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel acknowledged that a final health care bill is unlikely before the August break. AP
Morning Edition, July 24, 2009 · The House of Representatives does plan to vote on health legislation before leaving for its August recess, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told NPR.
Emerging from several hours of meetings Thursday with House leaders, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Emanuel told NPR's Steve Inskeep that "their intention is to go next week and she is working toward that goal."
Despite an earlier push by President Obama for Congress to complete its work on the legislation before the break, he and his chief of staff have acknowledged that a final product is more likely to be seen at the end of the year.
Still, setting the deadline for August was important, Emanuel said, because Congress "can use the summer months to basically work out and iron out differences."
Those differences include debates over thorny issues like taxing the wealthy to pay for expanding health coverage, whether to create a government plan that would compete for patients with private insurers, and what kind of role businesses should play, among other things.
"Having a deadline focuses the mind," he said.
Senate Inches Forward
On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid acknowledged what had become obvious in recent days — that the full Senate would not vote on health care in August.
"It's better to have a product based on quality and thoughtfulness rather than try to jam something through," Reid said.
But he said the Senate Finance Committee would produce a bill and work on it before the August recess begins.
Still, many members of Congress have raised concerns about leaving incomplete legislation unfinished over the summer to be picked apart.
Emanuel dismissed the idea that this would bring down the bills, noting that 14,000 people a day lose their health insurance.
"The public wants health care reform that fundamentally doesn't put the insurance companies in control of the process, which is where they fundamentally are," he said.
He also said lawmakers would welcome hearing from people in their districts about the issue. "Hearing from constituents will not be the same as hearing from the special interests," he said.
Political Pressure From All Sides
Emanuel shrugged off comments from Sen. Jim DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina, who said Wednesday that health care is Obama's "Waterloo." He also dismissed remarks Thursday by Sen. James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, that Republicans are plotting the bill's demise on a "week by week" basis.
"At least they're honest about their motivation. Their view about health care is about defeating President Obama," he said. "Politically, I actually appreciate what they said."
But tensions are also evident within the Democratic caucus as the Senate Finance Committee struggles to put together its version of the bill.
The administration's efforts to get and keep big health care interest groups on board has been worrying some Democrats in recent days. Hospitals, physicians, insurance companies and prescription drug industry groups have all pledged varying degrees of support for an overhaul.
Emanuel said it was important to keep the advocates who have been opposed to reform in the past on board, but "not at all costs. That has been a key part of this."
Fiscally conservative Democrats have also raised concerns about cost, but Emanuel urged the country to take a step back and think about the scale of what Congress is trying to accomplish.
"For 40 years, we've had a debate about health care that was solely about expanding coverage. For the first time, you have the dual goals of controlling costs and expanding coverage," he said.
"We're not just running it up on the credit card, which is how they did the prescription drug bill," he said, referring to the passage of a bill in 2003 under a Republican-controlled Congress that added a prescription drug benefit to Medicare.
"They charged it, which is a $900 billion charge," he said. "And nobody paid for it."
Emanuel sees giving more power to a commission already in place to advise Congress on how to hold down Medicare spending as key to keeping costs under control.
Fate Of The Overhaul
Inskeep asked Emanuel about the difficulties of holding together such a varied group of supporters and getting the new votes needed to pass legislation.
"I've seen places where people are trying to find a way to be a 'no,' and I've seen places where people are truly, earnestly trying to find a 'yes.' And I think we're in the process of people trying to find out how to get to a 'yes,' " he said.
At the end of the day, Emanuel expects a bill-signing ceremony.
"We will have a bill by the end of the year for the president to sign on health care that controls costs, expands coverage and provides choice," Emanuel said.
But he declined to predict how, exactly, the president and Congress would get there.
"I don't want to fast forward the movie; you're just going to have to watch the movie all the way through," he said.
