Democrats Offer Varying Views On Health Overhaul’s Fate

NPR interviewed House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to get his reactions to the President's Wednesday night speech. "I think we will pass a big health care bill. I think the president will insist that we keep the promise. We're going to have to figure out a different route now that we don't have 60 Democrats, but the Republicans are not helping us," Waxman said. "I think the Republicans started off from the very beginning trying to make sure there was no bill so that Obama, the Democrats would be blamed for failure. And if there was a bill, they would try to stir people up so that they wouldnt like it and they would blame the Democrats for a bill that they might not like in one respect or another" (Siegel, 1/28).

Kaiser Health News: Even as House Democrats turn their attention to jobs and the economy, [California Democrat and] House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller predicted Thursday that Congress will pass health care overhaul legislation this year (Carey, 1/28).

Roll Call: "Two moderate Democratic Senators" – Mark Pryor, of Arkansas, and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana – "on Thursday said health care reform is on 'life support,' with one of them questioning President Barack Obama's leadership on the issue." Landrieu said she had wanted the president to be "more clear about a way forward" in his address earlier this week (Drucker, 1/28).