While it’s pretty clear the Senate has foregone the August deadline, the House is still working furiously to pass legislation on health insurance and health care. “When I take this bill to the floor, it will win,” Nancy Pelosi told CNN.
However, the house if far from unified right now. At least a few Democrats want to wait until the Senate Finance Committee votes, even if that means holding off until after the recess.
And the Congressional Budget Office’s findings aren’t helping any matters. They stated on Saturday that the proposal for an independent panel designed to reign in Medicare spending would only save $2 billion over 10 years.
On the other hand, they then followed up the next day with some good news: that the House reform plan would actually increase the number of people who get employer-provided group health insurance.
And, of course, the public option is still a sticking point, though Pelosi reported in the same interview that it has “overwhelming support ” of the House Democratic Caucus as a whole.
President Obama will be helming more health-care events all week to keep the pressure on lawmakers. Rahm Emanuel probably summed up the situation best when he commented that, “August is both a peril and an opportunity,” and that the House"s actions in the coming days will help determine which of those two descriptions proves apt.