House Democrats clinch healthcare deal

Democrats broke a logjam in President Barack Obama's drive to revamp the costly U.S. healthcare system on Wednesday when a group of party conservatives accepted a compromise that allowed an overhaul bill to advance in the House of Representatives.
The agreement with four conservative congressmen from Obama's Democratic Party sparked immediate grumbling from liberals, Republicans and others even as the breakthrough allowed a key House committee to take up the bill.
Obama, whose chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, worked with members of Congress to craft the compromise, said he was grateful that lawmakers "are working so hard to find common ground."
"Those efforts are extraordinarily constructive in strengthening this legislation and bringing down its cost," Obama said.
Since taking office six months ago, Obama has made an overhaul of healthcare, which accounts for one-sixth of the U.S. economy, his top legislative priority.
He insists it is crucial to a broader economic recovery and has pushed lawmakers -- due to recess for a month soon -- to forge a deal quickly to rein in healthcare costs, improve care and cover most of the 46 million uninsured Americans.
Representative Mike Ross, a leader of the conservative Democrats known as the "Blue Dogs," told reporters the agreement, which followed lengthy negotiations with party leaders and the White House, would shave $100 billion off the bill's price tag of at least $1 trillion, making it more palatable to fiscal conservatives in both parties.
The Blue Dogs had put the brakes on the bill in the Energy and Commerce Committee, the last of three House committees to vote on it, over concerns about costs and other issues.
With the agreement, the bill was to move through that committee by Friday, even if House leaders later change it before the full House votes in September.
But Democratic Representative Eliot Engel said House leaders had left liberals on the panel with little choice but to vote for it as it stands or stall its progress.
"In a way, a number of us feel we've been held hostage," Engel said.
While the bill still includes a government-run insurance program, liberals said a requirement that Washington negotiate prices with doctors and hospitals -- putting the public plan on the same footing as private insurers -- would make coverage unaffordable for many.
The compromise would exempt 86 percent of small businesses from being required to contribute to health insurance for their workers. It would also allow states to set up insurance cooperatives alongside a national government health insurance plan.
Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee met in closed session to go over the details before a full panel meeting and votes on Thursday, and probably on Friday.