News: Moderate-To-Conservative Democrats & Health Care

Artur Davis Gives His Thoughts On Health Care
Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) found himself facing criticism last week when Rev. Jesse Jackson made the comment "You can't vote against health care and call yourself a black man." By the end of the week, Mr. Jackson had pulled back on his initial comment. In an interview on Good Day Alabama, Davis further explained his stance on the health care bill. "Health care is not about race," said the moderate Democrat. "It is about coming up with a bill that is going to work for the American people. We've got to do 2 things. We've got to open up health care for those who can't afford it and we've got to make sure for people who have got health care to keep the coverage they've got and their costs and coverage don't get out of control."

He also noted that he would like to see many changes to the current health care bill. "Rules of the Senate are very different from the rules of the House," said Rep. Davis. "Not a single House member was allowed to make an amendment to the bill on the floor. Not a single one of the 39 of us Democrats that want to fix the bill, we couldn't do it in the House of Representatives."

RNC Targets Centrist Democrats

The Republican National Committee will target a handful of centrist Democrats today with a new Web video and series of conference calls criticizing the Democrats for voting to allow debate to begin on government-run health care reform. The 60-second video, which will be e-mailed to more than 5 million people, singles out Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. With senators returning home for the Thanksgiving recess, GOP officials in Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska and Pennsylvania also will hold conference calls with state and national reporters to echo Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele's criticism of the centrist Democrats' votes.

Health Care Overhaul: Conservative Democrats Want It Changed

A day after Senate Democrats voted to move into a historic debate on overhauling the nation's health care system, key centrists made it clear yesterday that the party is still a long way from delivering on its promise to provide near-universal health insurance coverage and contain medical costs. Sen. Ben Nelson, a conservative Democrat from Nebraska, said on ABC's "This Week" that he voted to cut off a GOP filibuster and move into debate after the Thanksgiving recess only because that opened the way to amending the bill put forward by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, the former Democrat who is now a moderate independent, said he also voted to allow debate because he wants a chance to amend the bill, specifically to remove the so-called public option provision, under which some consumers would be offered an optional government insurance plan. "I don't think anyone thinks this bill will pass as it is," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."