Obama Meets With Democratic Leaders About Reform Efforts
On Tuesday, President Obama met with congressional leaders and pledged to increase White House involvement in health care reform negotiations as the House and Senate combine their bills (HR 3962, HR 3590) into a final overhaul package, Roll Call reports.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) attended the meeting in person, while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) joined via phone.
According to Roll Call, the promise of more White House involvement was met with an enthusiastic response by the Democratic leadership, which has shouldered much of the burden of the debate over the past few months (Pierce/Koffler, Roll Call, 1/5).
In addition, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that at the meeting, Obama discussed various strategies to reconcile differences between the two chambers' reform bills. Gibbs also said that the White House might not object to lawmakers working on the legislation outside of a conference committee, a strategy that appears to be a likely course for Democrats (Koffler, Roll Call, 1/5). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.