In this video, NewsHour correspondent Judy Woodruff talks to the president's famously aggressive Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who discusses the administration's hopes for the health care reform bills pushing through congress.
The Senate Finance Committee finally passed their own version of a health care reform bill on Tuesday with the support of 13 Democrats and one Republican: moderate Olympia Snowe of Maine. Now that five committees in the House and Senate have passed versions of the bill, both chambers will be debating a final version on the floor of Congress in the coming weeks.
In the interview, Emanuel argues that competition between insurance companies is essential to keeping costs down and says that health care affordability is the president's number one priority.
Quotes
"If you go back in history, five presidents over 60 years have tried to do this. Never in that process have we been this close, where you're about now, within the coming weeks, Judy, the House and the United States Senate will be debating health care on the floor of the two chambers, where people actually believe the momentum is for getting something done." - Rahm Emanuel
"The health care bill has to control costs for everybody. It cannot let a system continue to drive costs out of control. Two, it has to provide individuals choice. Three, there must be competition in the system. Each of these bills do it in a different way, but they get to the same destination. What will happen in this process, you know this -- you followed it very well -- the Senate will vote. It will pass a bill. The House will. There will be differences. But the differences are not as stark as you said. But we will merge those bills in the conference and come out with a single product." - Rahm Emanuel
Warm Up Questions
1. What is health insurance? Why is health care in the news right now?
2. How does a bill become a law?
3. What can President Obama do to change the health care system?
Discussion Questions
1. Emanuel says that the Obama administration is hoping to change the health care "status quo." What does he mean? How does health care work in the U.S. right now?
2. Emanuel discusses how the president was really hoping for Senator Olympia Snowe's vote. Why did he want at least one Republican to vote for the bill? Why is that significant?
3. Many people are talking about how to reform health care in the United States, how would you do it?
4. Do your own research on how bills move through the House and Senate. What happens after different committees pass different versions of the same bill? What do you think about this process?
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