Published on December 21, 2009 at 12:11 AM
The Hill: Howard Dean said Sunday that the Senate healthcare reform bill was made better this past week by Democratic senators but still has not earned his support. Appearing on NBC's 'Meet The Press,' the former Democratic National Committee chairman and ex-Vermont governor said the legislation was not the fundamental reform America's healthcare system needed. Dean said the House version of the healthcare reform package was a better bill. 'There are some things in this bill that weren't in there a week ago that make it a better bill. But this can't be the final version of this bill,' Dean said" (Bogardus, 12/20).
Fox News: "Do not mess with this bill. That was the message Senate Democrats sent to their colleagues on the House side over the weekend ... Liberal Democrats are eager to negotiate and try to win back items that were stripped from the Senate bill like a government-run insurance plan. But the final version would again need 60 votes to overcome a Senate filibuster, and Senate moderates warn that any big changes in conference could erode that bloc. 'Anybody who's watched this process can see how challenging it has been to get 60 votes,' Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'It is very clear that the bill, the final bill, to pass in the United States Senate is going to ... have to be very close to the bill that has been negotiated here'" (12/20).