Rep. Henry Waxman has announced that he may sidestep his own committee and force a floor vote on health care reform!
Link to AP article
A powerful House committee chairman threatened on Friday to force a floor vote to break the impasse within Democratic ranks over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, a drastic step that could roil the House.
Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said negotiations with fiscally conservative Democrats on his panel cannot continue indefinitely. But a floor vote would put fellow Democrats in an exposed position, having to cast a vote on a $544-billion upper-income tax increase that the Senate is unlikely to embrace to help pay for covering the millions of uninsured Americans.
The problems on the House side of the Capitol come a day after Senate Democratic leaders announced they would not go ahead as planned with a floor vote before Congress departs for its August recess. Senate Democrats are also divided. While some are negotiating with Republicans, others want to plow ahead on their own.
"We're going to have to look at perhaps bypassing the (Energy and Commerce) committee because we've got to get moving on this legislation," Waxman said. "I hope we don't come to that conclusion."
It's pretty unusual for a committee chairman to bypass his own committee on any bill. Waxman's frustration is definitely growing.
Two House panels have already passed legislation. Waxman is stymied because seven conservatives on his committee — part of a group called the Blue Dog Democrats — are sticking together.
Negotiations are continuing, but Waxman said he's running out of patience.
"We're not going to let them empower the Republicans to control the committee," he said.
"This can't be an interminable discussion," Waxman added.
Also today, the President summoned Harry Reid and Max Baucus to the White House. One hopes that he left them in a room with Rahm Emanuel for a good long while.
Call Congressman's Waxman's office at (202) 225-2927 to thank him for his courageous stand!
Also, don't forget to recommend slinkerwink's health care diary here.
(UPDATE 4:00 PM EDT) An agreement has been reached aimed at controlling the growth of the cost of Medicare:
Democratic officials in the House said late-night talks had produced agreement on changes in Medicare to try and reward doctors, hospitals and other providers for high-quality care. Critics argue the current system simply pays by volume — compensating providers regardless of whether additional medical procedures contribute to better health care.
Under the agreement, the Institute of Medicine would complete a study by September 2011 recommending changes in the current fee structure. The administration would have 45 days to submit the report to Congress, and it would go into effect unless Congress blocked it by the end of February 2012.
Separately, lawmakers agreed to call for a second study by the Institute of Medicine to investigate regional differences in payments to Medicare providers, to be implemented in 2014.
Officials said the two steps combined were designed to control the steady increase in Medicare costs, although they provided no immediate estimates of anticipated savings.
I'd rather see these things implemented now, or moved up a year, but I'll take some progress on this issue.