Pat Dollard

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It’s an improvement… Still wholly unacceptable of course, but if it can be compromised, it can be defeated.

POLITICO:

After weeks of head-banging negotiations, House Democrats finally got the breakthrough they needed on health care.

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has cut the cost of his bill and cut a deal to reconvene his committee and vote on the Democrats’ sweeping health care proposals, with a goal of completing work by the time lawmakers leave town for the summer on Friday.

There won’t be a vote before the full House before the August recess, but the committee breakthrough – after tense negotiations with Blue Dog Democrats – is a significant step for the Democrats.

“After two weeks of very long and intense negotiations, I’m proud to report that we’ve reached an agreement that will allow health care reform to move forward,” said Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross, a top negotiator for Blue Dog Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

As a result of the deal, party leaders have agreed to put off a House vote until the fall, giving members more time to digest the legislation — and opponents more time to attack it.

The Blue Dogs also succeeded in cutting $100 billion from the overall cost of the bill, bringing the total price tag under $1 trillion. The legislation will now exempt small businesses with a payroll less than $500,000 from paying for any government-sponsored health coverage – double the $250,000 in the initial draft. Doctors and other health care providers would also be allowed to negotiate their payment rates with the government-sponsored health care arm.

The new version of the bill also has a breakthrough on the concept of health care “co-ops,” seen by some as an alternative to a public plan. States would be allowed to create co-ops for residents to buy private insurance. But the Waxman-Ross deal will also keeps the “public option” of government-sponsored health care.

The deal clears the way for the committee to restart its consideration of the bill, but only four of the seven Blue Dogs will vote for it in committee – Ross, Tennessee Rep. Bart Gordon, Indiana Rep. Baron Hill and Ohio Rep. Zack Space. But that should be enough to get the bill out of committee.

Several of the Blue Dog negotiators warned that they were not taking a stand as a group on this latest version of the bill, and they have to listen to their constituents back home.

“The coalition does not have a position on the bill,” said South Dakota Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin.

“This is a voting card,” North Dakota Rep. Earl Pomeroy said as he waved his card in his hand. “There are only 435 of these in the House. I’ve been entrusted with the only one for North Dakota…Each of us is duty bound to represent our districts.”

But Ross says there’s clearly momentum – for now.

“I am confident we’ll get health care reform done this year, but let’s not rush it,” Ross said.

But there are still major hurdles before this bill even gets to the House floor.

Party leaders still need to marry whatever Waxman moves out of his committee with related legislation passed out of the Education and Labor and Ways and Means committees. The merged bill will likely include changes to a surtax on the wealthiest households. The Ways and Means bill would tax individuals who make more than $280,000-a-year and couples who earn more than $350,000, but the speaker has suggested raising the rates to $500,000 and $1 million, respectively. House Democratic leaders have also said they are open to a Senate proposal that would tax top-of-the-line health care plans to fill in any gaps to help pay for the bill.

Republicans, meanwhile, are ready to use the August recess to rip the bill apart and attack Democrats in their home districts.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters on Wednesday that he believes Obama should “scrap” the House Democratic health-care proposal and start over again.

“I think it’s time to scrap the proposals that they have on the table and hit the reset button, if you will, and then find a way to work together to do real health care reform that lowers costs and increases access for the American people, ” Boehner said at a Christian Science Monitor lunch appearance. “…One of the reasons that Democrats may be pushing so hard before the leave is they know that if this bill hangs out there for the August recess, my guess is that it will be shredded, and when they get back they will have nothing.”