WASHINGTON -- The drive to remake the nation's health care system suffered yet another setback in Congress on Thursday when a pivotal group of House Democrats demanded numerous changes in legislation the leadership was drafting on a fast track.
The emerging bill "lacks a number of elements essential to preserving what works and fixing what is broken," 40 members of the Blue Dog Coalition of moderate to conservative Democrats wrote in a letter to party leaders.
To win their support, they said, any legislation would need to be much more aggressive in reining in the growth of health care.
The letter addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer also called for greater protections for small businesses and rural health care providers. It did not specify how much additional time the group wanted, but Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., said he believes no vote should take place until September.
That is well past a midsummer informal deadline set by Pelosi, D-Calif. "I promised the president that we would have legislation out of the House before we went on an August break," Pelosi said earlier in the day. "That is still my goal."
The group issued its letter as Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee were laboring to put the final pieces in place on a bill that the White House has praised. The party's leadership had hoped to unveil it Friday and push it through committee next week, a timetable that fell apart later in the day. Making the bill public was put off until Monday. - FOX News Story
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