Post by amoeba15 on Sept 18, 2009 9:59:35 GMT -5
Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton predicted that Barack Obama would prevail in his bid to win passage of his health-care initiative and that some Republican senators likely would support the legislation.
Clinton, the last president to attempt a broad overhaul of health care, said the Obama administration could win over Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both Republicans from Maine. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus introduced an $856 billion plan yesterday that would require just about all U.S. citizens to have insurance or pay a penalty.
“It would be good if he could get some Republican support,” Clinton, 63, said in an interview yesterday in New York, speaking of the Baucus bill. “I believe he’ll get Snowe and he could get Collins and he might get three or four others.”
Clinton said the legislation proposed by Baucus, a Montana Democrat, was as far-reaching as the Senate would accept. Some Democrats have criticized the proposal because it doesn’t include a “public option” for a government-run insurance program that would compete with private carriers.
Clinton said potential Republican support for the bill could end up evaporating.
‘I’ve Seen It’
“If they believe a bill is going to pass, some of them will vote for it,” Clinton said. “And if they believe they have a chance to keep any bill from passing, they will be put under excruciating pressure to vote against whatever is there for reasons that have nothing to do with health care and have everything to do with politics. I’ve been through this. I’ve seen it.”
Clinton’s health-care plan failed to win passage in Congress, a defeat that many Democrats believe contributed to Republicans winning control of the House and Senate in the 1994 mid-term elections.
Obama, 48, has had conversations with Clinton since taking office and had lunch with the former president in New York just days after Obama delivered his Sept. 9 speech on health care to Congress.
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0XLQZ1JVZgg
Clinton, the last president to attempt a broad overhaul of health care, said the Obama administration could win over Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both Republicans from Maine. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus introduced an $856 billion plan yesterday that would require just about all U.S. citizens to have insurance or pay a penalty.
“It would be good if he could get some Republican support,” Clinton, 63, said in an interview yesterday in New York, speaking of the Baucus bill. “I believe he’ll get Snowe and he could get Collins and he might get three or four others.”
Clinton said the legislation proposed by Baucus, a Montana Democrat, was as far-reaching as the Senate would accept. Some Democrats have criticized the proposal because it doesn’t include a “public option” for a government-run insurance program that would compete with private carriers.
Clinton said potential Republican support for the bill could end up evaporating.
‘I’ve Seen It’
“If they believe a bill is going to pass, some of them will vote for it,” Clinton said. “And if they believe they have a chance to keep any bill from passing, they will be put under excruciating pressure to vote against whatever is there for reasons that have nothing to do with health care and have everything to do with politics. I’ve been through this. I’ve seen it.”
Clinton’s health-care plan failed to win passage in Congress, a defeat that many Democrats believe contributed to Republicans winning control of the House and Senate in the 1994 mid-term elections.
Obama, 48, has had conversations with Clinton since taking office and had lunch with the former president in New York just days after Obama delivered his Sept. 9 speech on health care to Congress.
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0XLQZ1JVZgg
