Biden: Failure to pass healthcare overhaul could set back reform for a generation
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
If Congress does not pass a bill soon, the fight for a healthcare overhaul could be pushed back for a generation, Vice President Joe Biden warned this morning.
With Democratic senators set to meet with President Obama this afternoon, Biden spoke this morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Biden, a former senator who presides over the Senate, where he still has close ties, also criticized Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) for blocking an effort to expand Medicare coverage to those younger than 65.
“I think Joe’s judgment is wrong in this,” Biden said. “I’m confident Joe is going to see the light, I’m confident he is going to vote for a final bill, but there is an awful lot of gamesmanship going on right now.”
Democrats are expected to drop the Medicare expansion as part of their search for 60 votes, leaving a far less liberal bill than the one passed by the House. The different versions need to reconciled before a final bill goes to Obama.
Even if the Medicare concession keeps Lieberman, who caucuses with Democrats, on board, other Democrats still have problems with the bill. For example, some want tougher language on abortion funding, which already has been rejected as an amendment.
Still, the White House and other Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, remain committed to passing some version of healthcare reform, and several have resurrected Voltaire’s warning -- not to allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good -- to justify passing what many see as a less-than-satisfactory bill.
If a healthcare bill doesn’t pass, overhaul “is going to be kicked back for a generation,” Biden said this morning.
For the full video, see here.
-- Michael Muskal
