Phone Conference Held on Health Care Reform
Senate Finance Committee continues working on health care during recess.
Compiled by staff
Published: Aug 24, 2009
Late Thursday, Senate health-care negotiators agreed to keep working toward a bill that can win broad support from the rank-and-file in both parties. In a conference call, the Gang of Six, the three Democratic and three Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee, agreed to redouble their efforts to craft a less costly alternative to the trillion dollar initiatives so far put forward in Congress.
Sources say the committee members discussed the possibility of reining in the scope of their package. Also, they rejected the idea of imposing a deadline on negotiations. The consensus, according to one participant, was to take the time to get it right. Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said the discussion included an increased emphasis on affordability and reducing costs, and efforts moving forward will reflect that focus.
Earlier, ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, infuriated some Democrats by refusing to debunk a false rumor that the House's health-care bill would spawn, death panels, empowered to decide whether the sick and the old get to live or die. Grassley has since denied trying to undermine the reform effort, and his Democratic colleagues said there was no partisan rancor in Thursday night's conference call.
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