Hillary: Congress should lead on health in ’09

DENVER — Hillary Rodham Clinton may have ceded the nomination to Barack Obama, but the New York senator is not prepared to end their debate over universal healthcare.

At a labor union event here Wednesday, Clinton asserted that she and her fellow lawmakers — and not the occupant of the Oval Office — should take the lead in drafting the Democratic Party’s healthcare reform plan next year.

{mosads}“I hope the Democrats in Congress can reach a consensus, because it is easy to make speeches about healthcare reform and, believe me, it is a lot harder to translate those words into legislative language that will actually get the votes we need to be successful,” Clinton said at an event staged by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the liberal healthcare activism group Families USA.

Clinton and Sen. Obama (Ill.) sparred continuously during the Democratic primary campaign over healthcare, which is her signature issue. Clinton’s chief criticism of the plan Obama hopes to bring to the White House is that it would not be truly universal because it does not mandate that all people obtain health coverage. Obama countered that mandates were not necessary if insurance were affordable, though he would mandate coverage for children.

“When we talk about healthcare and health reform, we are talking about high-quality, affordable healthcare for every American — no exceptions, no excuses, nobody left out,” Clinton said.

As she did during her primetime address at the Pepsi Center on Tuesday night, Clinton reiterated her support for Obama’s candidacy. “First things first: Let’s elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden and then let’s go make healthcare for all a reality,” she said.

In spite of that endorsement, Clinton’s remarks suggest her support for Obama does not extend to his healthcare agenda.

“We’ve got to get our house in order and come up with the plan that we’re willing to present. Now, obviously, I had presented such a plan during my campaign. I happen to think it’s a pretty good plan, but I’m not wedded to that plan. I’m ready to work to achieve a consensus with all of the players,” Clinton said.

Returning to the central theme of her presidential campaign, Clinton touted her experience leading President Bill Clinton’s first-term health reform effort, which failed. “Having gone through this from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue 15 years ago, I know that you have to engage the Congress and particularly the committees of jurisdiction early, so what we need to be doing is putting together such a package,” she said.

Clinton happens to sit on one of those panels, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Earlier, at the SEIU-Families USA event, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.), one of the most powerful and influential legislators on healthcare issues, said Obama needs to move on healthcare in his first 100 days in office and vowed that Congress would pass health reform next year.

Likewise, Clinton said Congress must act quickly. “We know that it’s important to move any legislation in the very beginning of a new president’s term. We cannot wait, we cannot have it down the list, because it is going to take all of the energy and the honeymoon period that any new president is afforded in order to make progress,” she said.

Dingell said he’d make a place for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in next year’s health reform debate: “We’ll have a comfortable seat for him in the United States Senate, where he can hopefully play a constructive part.”