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Obama's new health care proposal seeks GOP support

President Barack Obama unveiled a detailed proposal Monday for a bill aimed at winning bipartisan support for health care reform.

The plan, announced just a few days before Republicans and Democrats meet for a televised summit on the health care overhaul Thursday, is similar to the Senate health care reform bill passed Dec. 24 which had lost momentum since the Democrats lost their filibuster-proof majority with the election of Republican Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts.

Basing Obama’s proposal off of the existing Senate bill left open the option for the bill to pass under a procedural method known as reconciliation, which would require a simple majority in the Senate in order to pass as opposed to a supermajority of 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster, the White House said in a press conference.

The bill would cover 31 million more Americans and is estimated by the White House to cost $950 billion over a period of 10 years.

White House spokesman Dan Pfeiffer told reporters the new bill attempted to cover differences between the House of Representatives and the Senate’s previous bill.

The White House also boasts on its website of including GOP ideas in the proposal, but the Republican leader of the Senate gave it a chilly reception.

“It’s disappointing that Democrats in Washington either aren’t listening, or are completely ignoring what Americans across the country have been saying,” said Senate Minority

Leader Mitch McConnell in a press release. “Our constituents don’t want yet another partisan, back-room bill.”

College of Arts and Sciences assistant professor of political science Douglas Kriner said he does not think the president’s announcement makes health care reform a done deal.

“In the House, there are many liberals who will be upset that this compromise is too far from the original House bill,” Kriner said in an email. “There are also moderates who voted for the House bill initially who are probably now reluctant to vote for any health care reform.”

Kriner said he also thinks the fact that the bill does not include a public option will work against Obama’s hopes of passage.

“The president[“s bill] does not contain a public option, despite the insistence from many in the House that one is necessary and despite renewed calls for it from a number of leading senators,” he said.

College of Communication associate professor of journalism Fred Bayles said he believes this time the health care bill will either pass quickly or die.

“It won’t linger,” Bayles said, “because if it does it will just be the same annoying process again.”

Bayles also said the chances of Republicans defeating the bill are lower now, as it would worsen the public perception of the GOP and reinforce their reputation as “the party of no.”

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