Orszag: Some who are advocating delay on health care are just trying to kill it.
Late this week, a group of Blue Dog Democrats in the House and six “centrist” Democrats urged their leadership to delay action on health care reform. The White House has been insisting that Congress send him health care legislation by August, a deadline that seems to be fading. CNN’s John King asked White House budget director Peter Orszag about these developments:
ORSZAG: We have to remember: there are some who are advocating delay simply because they don’t have anything to put on the table. The typical Washington bureaucratic game of — ‘if you don’t have a better alternative, just delay in the hope that that kills something’ is partly what’s playing out here.
Orszag clarified that he wasn’t speaking about Blue Dog members or other “members of Congress and Senators who are actually actively participating in the debate.” But, he cautioned, “there are those who are advocating delay just as a desperation move to try to kill this.” Watch it:
A strategy memo authored by GOP consultant Alex Castellanos suggests that “it is crucial for Republicans to slow down what it calls ‘the Obama experiment with our health.’” The memo concludes, “If we slow this sausage-making process down, we can defeat it, and advance real reform that will actually help.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/19/orszag-health-care-delay/