Obama, Bipartisan Senate Group Meet on Health Care

Posted June 10, 2009 at 12:03pm

After several Democrats-only meetings on health care, President Barack Obama on Wednesday made a show of bipartisanship, inviting Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Finance ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ranking member Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) to the White House for a discussion of the issue.The four Senators emerged from the meeting vowing to work in a bipartisan manner and saying Obama had expressed his determination to craft a bill with Republicans. Grassley said Obama showed “flexibility— on some of the major issues, but the Senator offered no details on how differences may be bridged.Baucus said Obama had urged the Senate to move quickly on the legislation, saying he had informed the president that lawmakers are sticking to their goal of getting a bill out of committee in June and on the floor in July.But Enzi said he was concerned that Congress is moving too fast.“There’s a lot that we agree on, but I’m a little worried about the timeline, and I’m a little bit worried about how we pay for it,— Enzi said.