House Dems to Move Ahead on Health Care
Posted by charity_scott | July 30, 2009
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Blue Dog Democrats in the House have reached an agreement with party leadership concerning the health care reform bill, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
The Blue Dog Democrats are a group of fiscally conservative Democrats, and their opposition threatened to derail the bill because they thought it was too costly and did not fix certain problems with the health care industry. Debate on the bill was scheduled to begin 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Energy and Commerce Committee, but the House will not call a vote until the August recess.
Rep. Henry Waxman, the Energy and Commerce Committee chair, was presented with a list of 10 items that the Blue Dogs want changed. The items listed were not revealed by either side.
Four of the seven Blue Dogs on the committee said these issues had been settled, which will allow the committee to finish its work before the recess, which begins Friday. It is one of only three committees left for the bill to move through before a vote can be held.
The four representatives are Reps. Bart Gordon of Tennessee, Baron Hill of Indiana, Mike Ross of Arkansas and Zach Space of Ohio.
The news came while President Obama took part in a town hall meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina on health care reform.
Resources
Explore health care on the Livestrong topic page here.
More information on the health care reform bill at CNN's website.
--By Charity Scott