Pressuring Senate Dems
Posted: Monday, July 13, 2009 6:42 PM by Chuck Todd
From NBC's Chuck Todd
Pres. Obama just had a meeting with some key Congressional Democrats regarding his push for health care. The participants included: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus, House Ways and Means Chair Charlie Rangel and House Maj. Leader Steny Hoyer. According to sources familiar with the conversation, there were two key topics brought up. 1) getting a bill passed in BOTH houses of Congress before the August recess; 2) how to pay for it.
Mr. Obama and the House Democrats in the room made it clear to the two Democratic senators that needed to the Senate to go public with their promise to not break for the August recess until a bill passes the Senate. There is a worry among some House Democrats that they will lose some moderate support if the Senate decides to go home for August without a vote. So they want to hear a public pledge. Key Senate sources tell us that public pledge is coming, possibly as early as tomorrow.
As for the conversation on funding, the president publicly reiterated his pledge that he will NOT raise taxes on households making $250,000 or less; that was something the White House believed Congressional Democrats needed to hear. Also, sources tell us the both Senate and House Democrats were reminded that the president is not a fan of taxing health care benefits and he they should be doing everything they can to avoid passing a plan that includes it.
Bottom line: the White House has "cleared the decks" and focusing almost exclusively on health care for the next three weeks or however long it takes to get separate bills through the House and Senate before the August recess.
