Neither right nor left happy with House health-care plan

WASHINGTON — As the House Energy and Commerce Committee resumed work on major health-care legislation, top Republicans stepped up their criticism of the Democratic proposals Thursday as Congress nears its summer recess.

Democrats also were dealing with rising discontent in the left wing of their party over the deal that House leaders struck with Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally conservative Democrats.

The liberal lawmakers voiced concern that the deal would reduce federal subsidies intended to help people with low or moderate incomes buy insurance. They also contended a proposed government-run plan that would compete with private insurers would be weakened.

Moreover, the liberals said House leaders had compromised too early. "Under the agreement, private insurers are coming off unscathed," said Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., also was less than enthusiastic. "The public plan was eviscerated," he said. "It's not a terrible bill, but it's not what I had hoped for."

In the Senate, where efforts to produce a bipartisan measure continued in the Finance Committee, top Republicans seemed eager to avoid early compromises that would let Democrats head home for the August recess boasting of progress.

And Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Michael Enzi of Wyoming, two of the top Republican negotiators, have expressed frustration with suggestions that an agreement is near.

Grassley, senior Republican on the Finance Committee, and Enzi, senior Republican on the Senate health committee, are among six senators working to draft compromise legislation.

After a meeting Thursday night, five of the six appeared before reporters and said that they were committed to a deal but that they would not complete the legislation before the Senate leaves on its August recess.

"We are committed to find a bipartisan solution as expeditiously as possible," said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont.

Grassley and Enzi face a tough balancing act, as their party's leadership maneuvers to torpedo a compromise.

The third Republican among the six negotiators, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, is a centrist with a history of working with Democrats, and GOP leaders are under no illusion that they can control her vote.

Grassley dismissed suggestions he and Enzi were under pressure. "What you are observing is a continuation of where we have been for a doggone long time," he said. "The trouble is you all are looking for news and there ain't no news."

Some Republicans have begun to warn that Grassley should tread carefully on the health-care bill if he wants to become the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, a post he is in line to take in the next Congress.

And there have been suggestions that Grassley, who is up for re-election next year, could face a primary challenge because of unhappiness among Iowa conservatives over his support of the $787 billion bailout of the financial system last fall.

Earlier in the day, Enzi said the legislation simply was not finished. "The bill is not ready for prime time, so I don't know any way that it could be completed today or next week and then we are at the August break," he said.

Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has attacked the health-care proposals as unworkable.

He and other party leaders do not want to lose an opportunity to keep President Obama and fellow Democrats on the defensive at a time when poll numbers show sagging support for the president.

And McConnell used a speech on the Senate floor Thursday to capitalize on fears among elderly Americans about proposed cuts in Medicare spending to help pay for the health-care bill.

Although the proposals are aimed at reducing payments and on reducing administrative costs, McConnell warned that some older Americans might be unable to get needed care.

With the Senate Finance Committee unable to finish its bill, the House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is under pressure to get his bill approved.

The panel was voting on amendments late into the night, and Waxman said he expected to finish work on the measure today, when the House is scheduled to adjourn for the recess.

Notably, Republicans and conservative Democrats banded together late Thursday to attach an amendment ensuring that requirements for coverage of abortion would not be imposed, except when a woman's life is endangered or her pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. Hours later, the amendment was voted down after Waxman invoked rules that allowed him to force a second vote on the amendment.

The Associated Press

contributed to this report.