WASHINGTON — There are no simple fixes for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, the No. 2 House Democrat said Tuesday, as supporters agonized over whether to move the bill forwar
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the goal remains to pass far-reaching legislation that would expand coverage, reduce costs and improve quality. But the Maryland Democrat acknowledged "there are no easy choices" after Democrats lost the Massachusetts Senate seat – their 60th vote – and with it undisputed control of the congressional agenda.
Lawmakers hope Obama will help guide them toward an answer when the president delivers his State of the Union address Wednesday. Obama is unlikely to delve into the strategy for passing a bill, Hoyer said, but he is expected to stress the importance of getting comprehensive legislation along the lines of what the House and Senate already passed.
Democrats now have four options, Hoyer said: No bill, a scaled-back measure designed to attract some Republican support, the House passing the Senate bill, or the House passing the Senate bill with both chambers making changes to bridge their differences.
"Democratic leaders are taking time to talk to our members about what they are hearing from their constituents, and to digest with some clarity the messages that voters in Massachusetts were sending," Hoyer said in a speech.
Leaders need to settle on a plan soon, he told reporters later. "By next week we need to come to focus on the way we want to move forward," Hoyer said. "I think the president's discussion (Wednesday) will certainly add to our information ... to make that decision."
Opposition to the health care remake in Washington helped spark the Massachusetts revolt, Democrats acknowledge. Nonetheless, Hoyer says he doesn't see the voters' message as a repudiation of Obama's goals, since they basically reflect what Massachusetts itself did several years ago under a Republican governor and Democratic legislature.
Obama called the monthslong debate on Capitol Hill "an ugly process."
"It looks like there are a bunch of back room deals," the president said in an interview with ABC News.
"I think it's my responsibility – and I'll be speaking to this at the State of the Union – to own up to the fact that the process didn't run the way I ideally would like it to, and that we have to move forward in a way that recaptures that sense of opening things up more," the president said.
Of the four options that Hoyer outlined, only one has been ruled out. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said last week she does not have the votes to pass the Senate bill without any changes.
Democratic leaders are coalescing around the idea of the House passing the Senate bill, with both chambers agreeing to follow-up legislation that would settle major differences. Stripping special Medicaid deals for Nebraska and Louisiana, and scaling back a proposed tax on high-cost insurance plans, are among the changes being sought by House members.
But some moderate Democrats say forging ahead with sweeping legislation would risk a backlash from voters already turned off by 2,000-page bills seen as a big government power grab. Instead, they're arguing for more modest legislation built around elements that can attract some Republican support.
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