Today’s speech by President Obama was not the first in which he’s urged passage of comprehensive health care reform, but he’s hoping it will be his last. We’ll see.
Flanked by health care workers and wearing a bipartisan purple tie – a rarity for him – President Obama delivered remarks that carried a theme of finality. Saying it’s time to “bring this journey to a close,” the President asserted that “every idea has been put on the table, every argument has been made, everything there is to say about health care has been said and just about everybody has said it…Now’s the time to make a decision.”
Without using the word “reconciliation,” Obama nonetheless urged Congressional Democrats to use the parliamentary procedure to enact comprehensive health reform. (The Democratic strategy appears to be for the House pass the Senate bill and then have both chambers pass – via simply majority – a set of changes to the Senate bill.) He pointed out that an “up or down vote” – aka reconciliation – is what it took to pass welfare reform, the children’s health insurance program and both George W. Bush tax cuts. This is true, but Democrats surely know that Republican efforts to paint reconciliation as a way to “ram the bill through” will resonate with some. (It’s worth pointing out again that reconciliation would not be used to pass comprehensive legislation. Major bills have already passed the House and Senate. Reconciliation would be used to make substantial, but not fundamental, changes to these bills.)
Obama asked Congress to “schedule a vote in the next few weeks” and asked Democrats to summon their courage to cast what could be politically suicidal votes. “We can’t just give up because the politics are hard,” he said, no doubt directly addressing House Democrats who are up for re-election this fall in moderate or conservative districts.
The President ended his statement with a sentence not in the prepared text distributed to reporters before the appearance. “Let’s get it done.”
Obama will go on the road to talk about health care in Pennsylvania and Missouri next week.
Ball’s in your court, Speaker.
Full remarks after the jump:
