Obama Keeps Up Push for Health Care Reform at New Hampshire Event
On Tuesday, President Obama visited New Hampshire to promote a new job creation program, but he also continued to promote health care reform by pledging to "punch it through" Congress, the New York Times reports.
Obama said that the rising national debt in part can be attributed to uncontrolled health spending, which he is seeking to rein in.
The president denied that the special election of Scott Brown (R) for an open Massachusetts Senate seat -- which ended Democrats' 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in the chamber -- means the end of his overhaul initiative. Obama said, "Suddenly everybody says, 'Oh no, it's over,'" adding, "Well, no, it's not over. We just have to make sure that we move methodically and that the American people understand what's in the [reform] bill" (Baker, New York Times, 2/3).
Obama To Meet with Senate Dems
On Wednesday, Obama is scheduled to meet with Senate Democrats at an issues conference in Washington, D.C., Roll Call reports.
According to a release from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) office, the conference will be a discussion of "policy, strategy and message for the coming year."
Obama last week met with House Republicans at their own issues conference in Baltimore, during which he defended health reform (Brady, Roll Call, 2/2).
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said the health care overhaul likely will be "one of the principle issues" discussed between Senate Democrats and Obama. However, Carper said he does not expect the president to endorse a specific approach for getting reform legislation through Congress (Hunter, CQ Today, 2/2).
On Tuesday, Reid's office also announced that the question-and-answer session following Obama's meeting with Senate Democrats will be televised, just as when the president met with House Republicans last week.
The session will be broadcast live on C-SPAN 2 (O'Brien, The Hill, 2/2).
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