Bipartisan Senate Group Making Progress on Health Care

[steven johnson]

Source: Time Magazine

A bipartisan group of nine U.S. senators, after meeting for nine months behind closed doors, is nearing an agreement on the broad strokes of a health care reform bill. The so-called Gang of Nine ...The talks have been held in parallel to negotiations orchestrated by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, ...the two main sticking points remain how to pay for a plan that some estimate could cost as much as $1 trillion and how to integrate a public, government-run plan into the private system, ...the group is considering moving the final bill through budget reconciliation, the end-of-the-year budget bill that needs only a simple majority of 50 votes to pass the Senate, avoiding a potential GOP filibuster. ...President Bush pushed several large initiatives through this same process, such as his tax cuts and deficit reduction legislation.



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