Congressional Democrats say Thursday’s health care summit is likely to clear final hurdles to passing health care reform – and say President Obama returning to the issue with a clear focus and specific health care proposal makes it easier for them to get it done. Health care reform was in hibernation after the special election in Massachusetts ended the 60-vote supermajority in the Senate, with some even declaring it dead and buried. But over the last few weeks there have been a series of developments that gave new life to health care reform. Democrats say the summit is the final step to securing House and Senate support for a compromise bill that could pass by the spring.
TPMDC has been surfacing where the momentum came from, with Congressional and Washington sources telling us that the White House at first seemed wary about spending political capital on something that was plummeting in the polls and which had wounded the party’s chances at success in November.
Since Obama finally put a stamp of his own on a health care plan – a compromise that looks more like the Senate bill than the more progressive House version passed last year – Democrats are saying they can finally move forward and score a political victory.
Among the factors at work helping revive momentum were the president’s performance at the GOP retreat last month, Republican shenanigans around the invitations to the summit and the massive rate hikes proposed by the nation’s largest insurer. What’s more, Democrats cited polls showing the American people want Congress to press on.
These disparate events came together after a month of legislative limbo, giving the White House the political cover to move forward.
