ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports: Democrats are starting to run up on timelines for health care reform and the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Republicans say they are being too hasty and warn that a health care bill will lead to unintended consequences.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.,told reporters again today that Senators will do their ?best? to confirm Sotomayor, pass a Senate version of health care reform and finish up the Pentagon policy bill they?re currently considering before they?re scheduled to leave for a month-long August recess. He dodged the question ofwhether this will require more work time in August.
Republicans, meanwhile, have taken to comparing the health care reform effort with the unpopular $775 billion stimulus bill that was passed hastily a month after President Obama took office, but has not stemmed the rise in unemployment.
?Here we are a few weeks before the recess, and you get the impression they're willing — they want to pass just anything they can as rapidly as they can. And the reason I was comparing that to the stimulus, we know that that at least so far is a failure. It, once again, was sold to us on the basis that we had to do it tomorrow in order to prevent catastrophe,? said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
?I think that's a flawed strategy,? he said. ?I think we ought to take our time and do it right,? McConnell told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
It?s possible — but not yet guaranteed –that the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will pass its version of health care reform.
This would be the first fully baked stab presented by Democrats and modified by votes in a public process at the committee over the past several weeks. It has a controversial public health insurance option and a mandate for employers to either provide health care coverage or pay, and it will ultimately be melded with whatever is produced by the Senate Finance Committee to expand Medicaid and pay for health care.
The Finance Committee is nowhere near done with its version of health care reform. Another bipartisan meeting began behind closed doors late this afternoon.
McConnell also questioned the central sales pitch the Obama administration has used to pitch health care reform as a necessity– that reforming health care will ultimately save money.
?We're told on this that in part the reason for doing health care is that it will actually save money over the long term.Most of us are scratching our heads wondering how you can design a plan in order to try to cover the uninsured, bring more people into the coverage, and still save money.In fact, that won't happen,? he said.
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