Obama pushing health bill in Capitol stop Sunday

[clear eye]

Source: Houston Chronicle online

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press
Dec. 6, 2009, 3:03PM

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama appealed directly to senators' desire for history-making change and their short-term political fears Sunday in urging them to stand together and overhaul the nation's health care system.

At the request of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Obama made a trip to the Capitol during a rare weekend legislative session to ask rank-and-file Democrats to work for compromise and do it quickly. Vice President Joe Biden joined Obama for the closed-door meeting.
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A new idea being discussed was national nonprofit insurance plans that would be administered by the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the popular Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., a key centrist, was enthusiastic about the idea, which she's proposed in different forms in the past. "I think it bodes well for being able to do what we want to do, which is to create greater choice and options in the marketplace," she said.

Liberals were cool to the proposal, holding out for a fully government-run plan.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6756206.html

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The 'pukes made a big deal about the exclusive nature of the caucus meeting w/ the Pres. & Vice-Pres., saying that he was betraying the idea of open gov't, but they wouldn't even tell the Senate leadership what the subject of one of the amendments they insist on bringing to the floor tomorrow.