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Washington » On the fight over health reform, President Barack Obama cast himself Friday as an ally of conservative House Democrats, even though the White House and the Blue Dog Caucus remain far apart on the details of a plan.
Seven Blue Dogs, including Utah Rep. Jim Matheson, have refused to budge on their concerns over the price tag of the wide-ranging proposal and its ability to slow down the rising health care costs for consumers, effectively holding the bill hostage in the House.
As a result, the White House spent more than six hours last week directly negotiating with Blue Dogs on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Obama himself has spent an hour in the discussions trying to find a compromise.
More-liberal members of the House are frustrated by the Blue Dogs' stand, but Friday, Obama said they have been "constructive."
"In terms of broad principles, the Blue Dogs share my commitment to make sure this is paid for and that it is fiscally responsible over the long run and on that front they are my ally," said Obama, during a roundtable interview with reporters from newspapers, including The Salt Lake Tribune.
The nine reporters invited to the White House on Friday were not picked randomly. Seven of them, including The Tribune , report on members of Congress key to the health care debate. Four reporters work for newspapers in areas represented by Blue Dogs, while
The roundtable discussion, almost all of which discussed health care, is part of Obama's broader campaign to drum up public support for his top priority as it faces problems in Congress.
Obama held a prime-time news conference, town hall meetings and numerous interviews in the past few days saying that health reform is imperative to the nation's financial well-being.
"We've never been closer to reforming our health care system in a fundamental way," he said. While differences remain, Obama said, the emerging bills would cover most uninsured Americans, make the system more efficient and reform the health insurance industry to make coverage portable when people leave their jobs.
On those topics, Matheson and Obama agree, but Utah's lone Democratic congressman said Friday no one should expect a deal anytime soon.
"This is a really complicated issue, so expectations that negotiations would go quickly are probably not realistic," Matheson said. There are 51 Blue Dogs in the House, many of whom represent areas that normally vote Republican. These conservative Democrats have become a key voting bloc on nearly every major priority from the economic stimulus bill to the president's energy plan.
On health care, Matheson and his fellow Blue Dogs want their party's leaders to reduce health insurance subsidies offered in the proposal, which would greatly reduce the plan's roughly $1 trillion price tag.
The existing House proposal would offer a sliding scale of financial help for people making as much as 400 percent above the poverty line, or $88,000 for a family of four. Blue Dogs want to cut that subsidy to 300 percent, or a family income of $66,000.
They also demand any government-controlled health insurance option be used only as a fallback for those without insurance. Obama has said the so-called "public option" should be available to all as a key way to ensure health insurance companies are not keeping the prices unnecessarily high.
Republicans and some conservative Democrats worry the public option would erode the private health insurance industry.
Just a few weeks ago, the president insisted Congress move on health care reform before its August break. But congressional leaders have said that won't happen.
Obama said Friday that he would push Congress to vote sometime this fall. But in the meantime, the president plans to maintain pressure.
His campaign organization has placed ads on television targeting Blue Dogs and other moderates and the Democratic National Committee is calling on his vast list of campaign donors to call members of Congress to demand action.
Matheson has seen the TV ad and said he's not feeling any "undue pressure."
"Quite frankly, I think he is just tying to lay the groundwork that it's time for health care reform," Matheson said.
