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| Hare: Health Care Reform Vote Near |
17th District Congressman Phil Hare says even though one deadline set by the President has long since passed, a vote on health care reform vote could be as soon as days away.
"We are very close to having the Senate Finance Committee -- I hear next Tuesday -- will vote their health care plan up or down out of committee," Hare said. "I certainly hope they will vote it out."
Hare says the next step will be to merge the three committees that have marked up that bill before, leading to a potential full vote possibly by November first, once the Congressional Budget Office has evaluated the costs. At which time, he says, the House and Senate will have to run their reform bills through a Conference Committee.
No matter what health care reform bill is voted on, Hare says while he doesn't know all of the details, there's one version of the bill he won't be voting for, and it was put together by a fellow Democrat.
"I'm not a big fan of the (Sen. Max) Baucus bill," Hare said. "A lot of it, that's in ours, I do like. But, things, for example, with the public option and some other areas that I think would strengthen a health care bill. I don't like the taxing of health care benefits. I'm opposed to that."
Hare calls the taxing of the so-called "Cadillac" of health plan options counter-productive, which he claims would hurt teachers, firefighters, and other groups. The plan has also drawn other Democrat and Republican opposition.
Hare says while he wants a public option in any plan that gets out of committee, he wants to be at least somewhat flexible.
(Rep. Phil Hare speaks to a small group of people Friday afternoon at the Galesburg Welcome Center. WGIL News Story and Photo by Will Stevenson.) |
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| 10 09 09 by Newsroom |
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