White House says Baucus' 'building block' is not the end of the debate

President Barack Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, called the health care reform plan released Wednesday by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus "an important building block" that "gets us closer to comprehensive health care reform" Roll Call reports. He also said the White House does not view the current lack of GOP support as the end of the debate, and hoped Republican lawmakers would listen to their constituents concerns about health care (Koffler, 9/16).

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Baucus' "plan, still too radical for conservatives and too meek for liberals who want a government-run insurance option, broadly meets many of President Obama's objectives. ... "I don't think the president looks at today as the end," Gibbs said. The administration likes "some parts of it, but I don't think this is a mirror of what the president has talked about" (Lochhead, 9/17).

Also from the White House, Michelle Obama has booked a busy schedule this autumn to push health reform, Politico reports. Rather than focusing on reform details, as Hillary Clinton did, she will "make the soft, soccer-mom sell, highlighting the need to eat healthy, exercise and get preventive care," Politico reports. "She will do things that fit in with what she cares about, like health care reform and the implications it has for family and kids," a White House spokesman said (Henderson, 9/17).

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