Spare Change

by digby

TPM reports that Obama has said that he will be personally engaged in hammering out a deal in the conference:

In an interview today with PBS, President Obama said he plans to begin working on merging the Senate and House health care bills before Congress returns from Christmas recess.

"We hope to have a whole bunch of folks over here in the West Wing, and I'll be rolling up my sleeves and spending some time before the full Congress even gets into session," Obama said, "because the American people need it now."

Obama is expected to work with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to merge the bills.

"I intend to work as hard as I have to work, especially after coming this far over the course of the year, to make sure that we finally close the deal," Obama said.

The House returns Jan. 12, and the Senate returns Jan. 18.

Asked if he had a list of provisions that must be included to gain his signature, the President said the bill must improve care, reduce costs and reduce medical errors. But the public option is not a deal breaker.


At this point it's hard to imagine him rolling up his sleeves to do anything that would upset the Senate bill so many people are breathlessly comparing to the enactment of Social Security. But if he cares at all about the specifics, John Amato came up with a short list of items that would improve this bill. I would add that figuring out a way to make the reforms kick in before 2014 would be very, very helpful. Anything's possible.

.