The health care debate heats up on Capitol Hill this week as the Administration encounters opposition from conservatives, Blue Dog Democrats, and special interest groups.
The latest challengers are anti-abortion groups that have launched a campaign against current health care proposals in Congress. Americans United For Life, Focus on the Family, and the Family Research Council are leading the opposition against the inclusion of measures for taxpayer-funded abortions in the health care proposals.
White House Budget Director Peter Orzag said on Fox News Sunday that the Administration has not yet ruled out taxpayer-funded abortions.
The White House has stepped up efforts to rally public support for the health care overhaul in Congress in response to the heightened opposition.
On Monday, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) said, “If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.”
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded, “There clearly are those that want to oppose this purely to continue the 40-year-old Washington gamesmanship of playing politics on health care.”
But conservative opposition has only gotten stronger in recent days. In a Monday column, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol reiterated DeMint’s words.
“My advice, for what it’s worth: Resist the temptation. This is no time to pull punches. Go for the kill.”
The Obama Administration is still haunted by the 1993 defeat of “Hillarycare.” Opposition to the plan was largely lead by Kristol who authored a strategy memo entitled “Defeating President Clinton’s Health Care Proposal.”
This time, criticism of Congress’s health care overhaul is coming from all sides, especially as sources of funding for the plan have yet to be determined. The Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee are still working on proposals.
Last week’s testimony of Congressional Budget Office Director, Doug Elmendorf was yet another setback for the Finance Committee. Elmendorf warned that current House and Senate health care proposals would further the nation’s debt and would not yield the savings President Obama initially promised.
House Majority leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) reflected democratic anxiety over the health care proposals Tuesday.
“It’s not just Blue Dogs. I want to make it very clear – progressives, Blue Dogs, and everyone in between has expressed concerns, and we’re working on that,” said Hoyer.
Organizing for America and the Democratic National Committee have released televised ads targeting states to win over moderate Democrats and their constituencies.
“Republicans have no interest in meaningful reform,” said J.B. Poersch, Executive Director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, to the committee’s email list. “Their top goals: Destroy President Obama. Regain political power. Continue Bush-era policies that have cost our country so dearly.”
A nationally televised news conference with President Obama is scheduled for 8:00 PM ET Wednesday evening.
But opponents are hoping to slow progress in Congress to build support against the Administration’s goals for health care reform.
A Tuesday USA Today/Gallup poll revealed that 50 percent of Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is handling health care policy.
“If we can hold it back until we go home for a months break in August…Senators and Congressmen will come back in September afraid to vote against the American people,” said DeMint.
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