Democrats doubt deadline on healthcare
March 9th, 2010
Congressional Democrats on Tuesday cast doubt on their chances of meeting the White House’s March 18 deadline for voting on a stalled healthcare overhaul, but said they are moving as fast as they can.
With Democrats scrambling to line up support and determine what to include in a final healthcare package, the March 18 target set by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs last week appears unlikely — to the surprise of no one in Congress, where healthcare deadlines have been missed repeatedly.
“None of us have mentioned the 18th other than Mr. Gibbs,” Steny Hoyer, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, told reporters. “We are trying to do this as soon as possible. That continues to be our objective.”
Gibbs later told reporters he still thought the House could vote on the Senate’s version of healthcare reform before President Barack Obama leaves on an overseas trip on March 18.
“I’ve been given nothing that would change that advice that I was given last week,” Gibbs said.
Congress has struggled to pass healthcare reform, one of Obama’s top legislative priorities, and has missed a series of White House-imposed deadlines for approving the bill and sending it to the president for his signature.
If the deadline slips much further, beyond a two-week congressional break for Easter, the challenges of passing a bill would increase as the November congressional elections grow closer.
“Deadlines are both a blessing and a curse,” said Richard Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat. “They are a blessing because they get you focused on making a decision but they are a curse if you can’t make them, and this has happened over and over again.”
Comment by American Grand Jury:
The Democrats are stalling because they don’t have the votes to pass the ObamaTurd healthcare.. We need to keep the pressure on. We need to defeat this bill.. the liberals need to lose right here and now.. This bill will be Obama’s Waterloo..
March 9th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
People need to keep hammering away. This unconstitutional, socialist health care bill would have passed before the August recess last year if it wasn’t for the people speaking up. They keep setting deadlines to discourage people from pressuring Congress. It hasn’t worked.
March 10th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Obama is leaving the country at vote time so he can blame it’s failure to pass on congress.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:32 am
It has been reported that States are passing legislation to protect themselves from this bankrupting health care plan.My question is,why don’t they pass legislation to reaffirm the Constitution of the United States and neuter DC all together. ? Oops,I forgot,The Founding Fathers already did that.It is now up to We The People to enforce it.Sorry.My mistake.
March 10th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
The healthscare bill is un-enforceable. ‘bama is dreaming up stuff that will be ruled unconstitutional and impossible to implement even if it were passed.
March 10th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
Maybe his dream will turn into his nightmare, hopefully, I must pray for the illegal Muslim in White House, Psalm 109:8 and Lord wiling let this come true as soon as The Lord wills it. Guess all must keep on complaining about the healthcare, Clinton and Obama 2 of a kind, want to force usa citizens do as I say, not do as good for you, people should only be accountable to their doctors and nurses and let them make the decisions, Blue Cross and all the insurances companies should complete across state lines, this would give a lot more competition and thus decrease the cost of the individual policy. But let Pelosi do her thing, the doctor above described her accurately. God Bless America.
March 10th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
The REAL story here is the number of states voting to opt-out of anything Obama passes. I think the number is up to 33 states voting for states sovereignty with more pending.
Only die hard stated like Maryland and their Democratic governor(second highest taxed state in America) will do their dodo imitation and follow Obama right off the cliff!
My state of WV has better sense! Even Bobbie Byrd knows that this is unconstitutional!
March 10th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Did you know that despite all of Obama’s rhetoric and railing against insurance companies, regarding denial of care and benefits, that the largest denier of care and benefits is Medicare?
More denials than ALL other private insurance companies combined!
The government run health insurance!
So, with 500 billion reduced from Medicare in this bill, where will the savings come from?
More denial of benefits for the elderly and helpless in America!
How will care be determined? By the cost vs the persons remaining value to society!
If this is not DISCRIMINATION and UNETHICAL, they should remove the words from the dictionary!
MRD