Obama to Meet With Lawmakers To Urgently Push Health Reform Bill
Politico: "In a provocative argument designed to rescue his foundering health-care plan, President Barack Obama will warn Senate Democrats in a White House meeting Tuesday that this is the 'last chance' to pass comprehensive reform. Obama will contend that if it fails now, no other president will attempt it, aides said. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told POLITICO: 'If President Obama doesn't pass health reform, it's hard to imagine another president ever taking on this Herculean task.'"
"Previewing the message, Vice President Joe Biden said on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe': 'If health care does not pass in this Congress, ... it's going to be kicked back for a generation.'" (Budoff Brown and Raju, 12/15).
Roll Call reports that Obama plans an "intense but largely behind-the-scenes effort on health care reform legislation this week." In addition to today's White House meeting, Obama may work the phone and also bring more senators, including both Democrats and Republicans, over to meet with him individually later in the week. "But officials say no speeches or public events on health care are planned for this week. The president for weeks has been avoiding the type of rallies and interviews - marked by a blitz of the Sunday talk shows in September - that characterized the spring and summer" (Koffler, 12/15).
