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OVERLOOKED STORY OF THE DAY: Obama Freezes Out GOP, May Compromise On Employer Health Mandate (AP/Yahoo!)
With congressional negotiators starting to make decisions on a final health overhaul bill, top Democrats are hoping a White House session with President Barack Obama will narrow differences between the House and Senate.
Obama was to meet Wednesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other Democratic leaders to discuss the massive legislation. Negotiators from the White House and the two chambers have begun closed-door meetings already and seem likely to abandon a House-approved surtax on the wealthy even as they consider extending the Medicare payroll tax to investment income of high earners, Democratic officials said.
“I have so much faith in the president of the United States and his ability to be persuasive,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said Tuesday.
On another major difference between the two chambers, bargainers are considering a combination of the national insurance exchange the House approved and the Senate’s preference for letting each state establish its own exchange, Democratic officials said. The exchanges in effect would be marketplaces where consumers could compare competing health care policies before purchasing them.
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