WASHINGTON (CNN) – Six key senators – three Democrats, one independent and two moderate Republicans – sent a letter to Senate leaders calling for a slowdown in the push for a health care overhaul, in light of the Congressional Budget Office's assessment that the Democratic plan currently being considered would not cut medical costs
CNN Radio: Hear Ben Nelson on “44 with Ed Henry”
"We believe taking additional time to achieve a bipartisan result is critical for legislation that affects 17 percent of our economy and every individual in the U.S.," read the letter, signed by Democrats Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu and Ron Wyden. independent Joe Lieberman and Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, who also said they were "firmly committed to enactment of comprehensive reform this year."
The letter echoes concerns raised by many conservative Democrats on the House side.
Full text of the letter after the jump.
Dear Senators Reid and McConnell:In the current debate about our health care system, we are firmly committed to enactment of comprehensive reform this year. That reform must reduce premiums and administrative costs, expand choices, and increase coverage for all Americans. We are eager to work constructively with Senate leadership and agree that this is an historic opportunity which makes it imperative to proceed thoughtfully and responsibly. Our efforts will affect virtually every American.
The American people expect us to adopt comprehensive health reform that addresses the priorities we have outlined without detrimentally affecting those who have health insurance or increasing the national debt. This week, Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf testified that the currently introduced health reform bills will not reduce costs. We are faced with the dual challenges of pressing ahead to pass legislation by the end of the year and to produce the reform the American people need.
We appreciate the work that has been done by Senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Finance committees, but in view of the Budget Director's statement, there is much heavy lifting ahead. We support the efforts of Finance Committee members to produce a bipartisan bill, despite calls from both sides of the aisle to rush forward or delay indefinitely. While we are committed to providing relief for American families as quickly as possible, we believe taking additional time to achieve a bipartisan result is critical for legislation that affects 17 percent of our economy and every individual in the U.S.
We look forward to working with you to develop legislation that is vital to the well-being of the American people and urge you to resist timelines which prevent us from achieving the best result. This opportunity is rare and the impact will last for generations.
Sincerely,
Ben Nelson
United States SenatorOlympia J. Snowe
United States SenatorJoseph I. Lieberman
United States SenatorSusan M. Collins
United States SenatorMary L. Landrieu
United States SenatorRon Wyden
United States Senator
From CNN Politics
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Work for us | Help
this is trying to be raced through.. another bad choice for america. so when this dosnt work. is it going to be another misreading. the liberals excuse for another screwup on thier part
Good idea. Let everyone actually read the bill, get come cost estimates, measure public support and then vote. Isn't that how a Democracy is supposed to work?
Sanity at last!
I think that we need to push this thing through ASAP before anyboy realizes what the costs are going to be. After it's done we can just start taxing the crap out of the wealthy to pay for the cost over runs.
wow something out of DC that makes sense.
Take your time folks.
In fact, take the whole month of August. There's nothing else on your schedule for that time. Give full-time to the issue. Earn what you are paid. Too many vacation days throughout the year. Earn your pay.
Looks like HC reform won't be done this year, that's for sure. Looks like too many Dems are worried about their jobs if they screw this up or pass it without reading it first.
I'm sure the "Democrats" want a slowdown because they need to find a way to protect the rip-off artists we call a healthcare system. These private companies have expensive, purposly inaccurate records that leave most of us in paper-trail hell for months clearing up their mistakes in billing. Let private healthcare go under. They are no better than the giant banks and they are bleeding most of us dry. We need small business to create new jobs and new industry but it's suppressed by big insurance. Wake up people! Dems and Repubs alike are joined at the hip to these billionaires profiting from out sickness. It's disgusting.
Let's make it easy on everyone...just put every American on the same insurance policy that members of Congress have. I understand it's quite remarkable, as is their retirement package.
Senators Ben Nelson, Olympia J. Snowe, Joseph I. Lieberman, Susan M. Collins, Mary L. Landrieu, Ron Wyden
The President gave you a deadline when he wants this bill on his desk. Find a solution. Everything needs to be on the table. Co-op, public option, tax the wealthy, etc. Please pass this legislation this year!!!
I am glad there are some Senators who are thinking and not just voting to pass it because President Obama wants it a done deal before Aug. I hope Congress will take notice and take their time to review this and look at some of root casues of why healthcare is out of control. They keep forgeting Tort reform. Also, if this passes then Congress and the President should be required to be on the same great plan.
I have to agree with the letter. I do not want something hastily put together that will not help. I did vote for change, but not debt. We want reform of the health care system not massive debt. I do not understand how paying more for what I already have is reform...
Slow down, our health care system is a total mess. It should be a crime to get rich off the sick and dying. Disgraceful. Also, we have are not the best in the world, we ran 37 th in the world, go to the World Health organization and look it up. We need a one payor plan like other countries that put their citizens first, not the almight dollar, and I didn' appreicate watching your stupid CNN reporter this morning, I think his name is John Roberts, making fun of President Obama's plan. He is totally insensitive to the feelings of people that are sich and have no insurance. You know John, what goes around, comes around.
1 France
2 Italy
3 San Marino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austria
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands
18 United Kingdom
19 Ireland
20 Switzerland
21 Belgium
22 Colombia
23 Sweden
24 Cyprus
25 Germany
26 Saudi Arabia
27 United Arab Emirates
28 Israel
29 Morocco
30 Canada
31 Finland
32 Australia
33 Chile
34 Denmark
35 Dominica
36 Costa Rica
37 United States of America
38 Slovenia
Slow down?, our health care system is a total mess. It should be a crime to get rich off the sick and dying. Disgraceful. Also, we have are not the best in the world, we ran 37 th in the world, go to the World Health organization and look it up. We need a one payor plan like other countries that put their citizens first, not the almight dollar, and I didn' appreicate watching your stupid CNN reporter this morning, I think his name is John Roberts, making fun of President Obama's plan. He is totally insensitive to the feelings of people that are sich and have no insurance. You know John, what goes around, comes around.
1 France
2 Italy
3 San Marino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austria
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands
18 United Kingdom
19 Ireland
20 Switzerland
21 Belgium
22 Colombia
23 Sweden
24 Cyprus
25 Germany
26 Saudi Arabia
27 United Arab Emirates
28 Israel
29 Morocco
30 Canada
31 Finland
32 Australia
33 Chile
34 Denmark
35 Dominica
36 Costa Rica
37 United States of America
38 Slovenia
Translation, we don't want to do anything!
If it doesn't get done now it never will and these Senators know that. They simply want to put it off again for the sake of their own re-elections. They care more for their own careers than they do the American People.
These Senators are cowards in my opinion.
corrected version.
Slow down? Our health care system is a total mess. It should be a crime to get rich off the sick and dying. Disgraceful. Also, we are not the best in the world, we rank 37 th in the world, go to the World Health organization and look it up. We need a one payor plan like other countries that put their citizens first, not the almight dollar, and I didn' appreicate watching your stupid CNN reporter this morning, I think his name is John Roberts, making fun of President Obama's plan. He is totally insensitive to the feelings of people that are sick and have no insurance. You know John, what goes around, comes around.
1 France
2 Italy
3 San Marino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austria
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands
18 United Kingdom
19 Ireland
20 Switzerland
21 Belgium
22 Colombia
23 Sweden
24 Cyprus
25 Germany
26 Saudi Arabia
27 United Arab Emirates
28 Israel
29 Morocco
30 Canada
31 Finland
32 Australia
33 Chile
34 Denmark
35 Dominica
36 Costa Rica
37 United States of America
38 Slovenia
This dont look healthy for Obama. Kill the drama. Sack Obama.
We cant do that then you may actually have time to read it and see what a scam it is like Cap & Trade and the Porkulous package.
Where is the transperency and posting of all the bills????
It appears the liberals are the ones with the bad home loans because they didnt Read what they were getting into. I think BoBo was a Mortagage Broker prior to his scam run. "Oh trust me just sign it I am here for you" Nice work sheep
Power to the People, if everyone would register to vote, that's all you people without health insurance, and everyone that has a family member without health insurance, or knows someone without health insurance, we could vote this bunch of greedy losers our of office. See the list above. I put Liberman at the top of the list.
Let us remember we already pay for the uninsured to get medical coverage so....
If this bill is supposed to save all of us money by providing insurance to the uninsured why is it necessary to raise taxes to pay for the reform?
Did we really need the CBO's assessment to tell us we are not going to "save" any money with the new health plan?
These senators need to be commended for having the sense to slow down this madness.obama,pelosi and reid surely don't. They don't have a clue about running this country. They could not collectively run a hot dog wagon and turn a profit. They have already been told by their own people that this reform will break the country, yet they just keep on grandstanding.Maybe financial ruin of the U.S. is their motive after all.All of them should be replaced as soon as possible
"We believe taking additional time to achieve a bipartisan result is critical for legislation that affects 17 percent of our economy and every individual in the U.S.,"
We tried that with the stimulus bill, we made several changes and watered it down to appease the irrelevent republicans, and what did that get us?
We know that the healthcare industry has a powerful lobby and strong relations with our Congress. We know about the large sums of money that health insurance companies have given to members of congress. We know that the money affects your decision. We know that health insurance companies don't want us to have universal healthcare. That would get in the way of them fleecing the people and taking all of our money in exchange for health.
KNOW THIS! We want universal healthcare. WE WILL GET IT! If these Democratic Senators are standing in the way of this progress. The people WILL vote you out and install someone who will get us universal healthcare. If you don't believe, wait till 2010 and see what your opponents will be saying in their commercials and during debate.
Universal Healthcare is the will of the majority of the American People
Whether it is passed quickly or slowly, whatever health care program is put in place MUST apply to all members of Congress, the Executive, the Judiciary and all members of their staffs. There must NOT be an exemption or waiver for the government members or employees. Those in charge must follow the same rules and policies as the rest of the American citizens/
We need to get rid of Nelson, Lieberman, Landrieu (who I pushed for when she struggled for re-election) and Wyden. Plain and simple. So called "blue dogs" might be the death of ANY reform.
SLOW DOWN? What is wrong with you senators? Are you truly asking the American people to continue to wait for health care reform?
We want health care reform that includes the public option NOW. So it comes down to; you not voting for us, we definately won't be voting for you.
2010 will be the election where we kick all of you that haven't backed what we want to the curb, regardless of party affiliation!