Blue Dogs delay Health Care bill

From USA Today:

Blue Dog Democrats hold up health overhaul bill in House

WASHINGTON (AP) — The drive to remake the nation's health care system suffered yet another setback in Congress on Thursday when a pivotal group of House Democrats demanded changes in legislation the leadership was drafting on a fast track.

The emerging bill "lacks a number of elements essential to preserving what works and fixing what is broken," 40 members of the Blue Dog Coalition of Democrats wrote party leaders. To win their support, they said, any legislation would need to be much more aggressive in reining in the growth of health care as well as in addressing a disparity in Medicare payments they said adversely affects rural providers.

A group of the Blue Dog members met into early evening with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and arranged to sit down with committee chairmen on Friday to go over proposed changes. Officials said the public release of the bill, originally set for Friday, would occur no earlier than Monday.

It was the second setback in three days for President Obama's top domestic priority, although it was unclear whether it would amount to anything more than a brief delay for a bill of enormous complexity and controversy.

And TPMDC reports:

After Pressure From Blue Dogs And Others, House Leaders Delay Unveiling Health Care Bill
By Brian Beutler - July 10, 2009, 9:06AM

Late last night, House leadership decided it would postpone the release of its completed draft of health care reform legislation, after Blue Dog Democrats--and a variety of other concerned members--raised a number of objections to aspects of the proposal.

The bill was originally supposed to be unveiled late last night, but will now be postponed until at least early next week.

Leadership characterizes this as part of the negotiating process--and that's fair enough. The House is still on a much clearer, more united course toward passing legislation than is the Senate. But after weeks of smooth sailing in the lower chamber, this is the first serious speedbump.

Read the House Blue Dogs' letter to Speaker Pelosi and Steny Hoyer which prompted the delay in publicly rolling out of the draft health care reform bill.

It has been suggest by other bloggers that maybe we should take Health Insurance and Pensions away from our Reps and Senators and let them experience what we do. Would they change their minds then?