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White House prepares its own health care bill: report

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-05 09:52

WASHINGTON: The White House is preparing its own health care bill as Congress is struggling to reach an bipartisan agreement on the policy reform, said a report on Friday.

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Citing several internal sources, the CNN report said that President Barack Obama's administration is quietly working to draft health care legislation and preparing for the possibility to deliver it to the Congress after Obama's scheduled speech to a joint session there next week.

Sources also told the TV network that the president was expected to lay out a path to reform in his speech in a bid to bridge various differences in the competing proposals.

He would also noted that if Congress passes a bill now, it would serve as a foundation of any further reform in the future, said the report.

Unlike the Clinton administration, the Obama government only issued some guidelines and principles on the health care policy reform for Congress to follow when drafting the bill.

So far, there have been three health care reform bills in discussion at the Democrats-dominated Congress. Two of them, which were drafted by the House health committee and the Senate health committee, respectively, share a lot of similarities and both were hit by opposition from the Republican side.

Another one, which was a bipartisan product by the Senate financial committee, was considered most likely to win the greenlight at Congress.

Republican Senator Olympia Snowe on Friday said that a key group of six Senate Finance Committee members would continue their work next week to achieve bipartisan agreement on legislation.

"When Congress returns to session next week, we will be working with the same intensity we've brought to bear this year to achieve a consensus bill -- as I believe we must reduce the costs of health care and make coverage more affordable for all Americans," she said in a statement.