Flip-flopping on the August health care deadline
While speaking at a town hall meeting in Ohio, President Obama said he's OK with Congress missing his August deadline for health care reform.
President Obama walked away from his own deadline for Congress to pass health care reform before its August recess while speaking in Cleveland, when as recently as two days ago he insisted the deadline be met.
From the Washington Post:
You know, the Republican — the Republican Party chair, who is seeking to stall our efforts, recently went so far as to say that health insurance reform was happening too soon. Well, first of all let me just be clear. If there’s not a deadline in Washington, nothing happens.
Nothing ever happens. And you know, we just heard today that, well, we may not be able to get the bill out of the Senate by the end of August, or the beginning of August. That’s OK. I just want people to keep on working, just keep working.
I want the bill to get out of the committees and then I want that bill to go to the floor and then I want that bill to be reconciled between the House and the Senate, and then I want to sign a bill, and I want it done by the end of this year. I want it done by the fall.
This is just a case of the president realizing the obvious: that Congress isn’t going to be able to finish its work before its August break. One has to wonder what happened during the last two days for the president to extend his deadline?
From the Associated Press:
President Barack Obama continued to insist Tuesday that Congress approve a health care bill before its August recess — a timetable Republicans see as excessive.
… The president acknowledged in an interview broadcast Tuesday on NBC television that lawmakers right now are “not where they need to be.” He has invited Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to a meeting at the White House later Tuesday and he has a news conference scheduled for Wednesday night.
Asked why he felt so strongly about the timeline, Obama replied, “because if you don’t set a deadline in this town, nothing happens.”
“And the deadline isn’t being set by me,” he said. “It’s being set by the American people.”
Sources:
The Washington Post, July 23, 2009
President Obama Delivers Remarks on Health-Care Reform at Town Hall
The Associated Press, July 21, 2009
