Not Going Anywhere

Not only is Obamacare stalled in the Senate without a vote before the August recess, it's now stalled in the House, too.

U.S. House Democratic leaders, struggling to reach an accord with party dissidents on health care, said they’re likely to miss President Barack Obama’s August deadline for legislation overhauling the medical system.

“It doesn’t look like it to me,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said in an interview. “I really hoped that we could have gotten a bill out of here by now,” he said, adding that he has a “heavy political heart.”

Obama, who has made revamping health care the centerpiece of his domestic agenda, had urged the House and Senate to each pass versions of the bill before their monthlong August recess so negotiations on a compromise could begin when they return. He’s seeking to provide health coverage to tens of millions of Americans who lack it and curb the soaring cost of care.

With the Senate already planning to leave for its recess without voting, Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, went to Capitol Hill to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and members of the so-called Blue Dog coalition of Democrats, who object to the cost and structure of the legislation.

The House would only stay in session a few days after the start of the August break if an agreement can be reached to allow the bill to clear the Energy and Commerce Committee, where the Blue Dogs are holding up the legislation, Hoyer said earlier.

The bad news, without a specific bill, momentum will be lost in August. The good news is that lack of specifics makes it harder to attack the plan, but at this point even I have to admit the damage has largely already been done. Besides, that lack of specifics means the GOP can continue to make stuff up wholesale about health care and continue to scare moderates into thinking the plan is medical fascism.

At some point, Obama's going to have to make the choice if he wants to pursue this or not. The real problem is that I can completely see the GOP health care reform insurance subsidy program becoming the battle cry for 2012 if he walks away from this. Even better, he'll get stuck with the Carter "loser" label, and you'd better believe the GOP will be licking their chops heading into next year.