Obama to meet with Democrats as Lieberman leans toward backing healthcare bill
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As the Senate headed to a series of votes on amendments to the healthcare overhaul bill, Sen. Joe Lieberman, a key holdout, said today that with the elimination of Medicare expansion he was getting to a point where he could support the measure.
The news that Lieberman was leaning toward backing the overhaul came as the chamber’s Democrats prepared to head to the White House to meet with President Obama on healthcare. The president was expected to tell the senators that they had to be united or that healthcare reform would be set back for years.
“He’ll underscore that now is the time to come together,” said Dan Pfeiffer, White House communications director.
But all eyes remained on Lieberman, who threw the Democrats into a tizzy by refusing to back a compromise on the public option. As part of that effort, Medicare would have been expanded to those 55 to 64 years old. Lieberman opposed the expansion, though he had backed it in the past.
“I’m going to be in a position where I can say what I’ve wanted to say all along: that I’m ready to vote for healthcare reform,” Lieberman told reporters this morning.
“We’re heading in the right direction,” he said after the Medicare compromise fell by the wayside.
With 60 votes needed to pass any overhaul and Republicans still unified in their opposition, Lieberman’s vote – indeed any vote from someone in the Democratic caucus – is worth its weight in gold. The decision to drop Medicare expansion and a robust public option to win Lieberman’s vote gets the Democratic caucus close to the magic number.
But not over the goal line. There are still questions about a number of issues, including the abortion language that might derail some Democratic votes and force leaders to seek GOP help.
One possible Republican voter, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said she couldn’t support the healthcare bill even with the changes.
“This bill is getting better, but it’s still too deeply flawed for me to support it,” Collins told reporters. “I think something is going to pass, and I’d like to make that bill as good as possible even if ultimately it’s not a bill that I can support.”
Collins said she would be proposing amendments.
Meanwhile, the Senate, which was in its third week of healthcare debate, was poised to resume voting later today on pending amendments to the bill.
The amendment that has sparked the most debate is sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan, (D-N.D.) who is trying to lift a long-standing ban on the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and elsewhere.
Obama favored the plan as a senator, but the pharmaceutical industry, which has helped the White House lobby for healthcare overhaul, is opposed.
Obama’s meeting with Democrats will take place while conservatives keep up their drumbeat against the bill. Activists, including radio host Laura Ingraham, were to join with Republican Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina to protest the bill, arguing that it is too expensive and allows government to grow too big.
-- Michael Muskal
Related: Biden says failure to failure to act will push healthcare reform back a generation
