Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, says the house has done its part and the senate must get moving on the health care issue. Braley says one of the things that has slowed the discussion is the Senate giving them a clear indications of what is possible on health care reform “given the current dynamics over in that chamber.”
He says from what they are hearing today, it seems likely there could be an effort to move forward on health care next week. The Senate has been stalled on the issue since Republican Scott Brown won the senate race in Massachusetts — taking away the 60 vote majority Democrats had held.
Braley says the talks next week could be important in moving things ahead.He says the talks would probably include some efforts to start a reconciliation process in the house that would deal with some of the specific concerns about the senate bill. It would then move to the senate to talk about the house bill. Braley says the reconciliation would be a “fundamental requirement” before anything could be taken up in the house.
Braley says negotiations on the health care are ongoing every day. He says the most important thing is that they move to expand access and affordability of health care to all Americans. “And that’s why we need to get it done, and get it done quickly,” Braley says. Braley says creating jobs is the most important issue right now facing lawmakers — and he says the senate needs to get moving here too.
Braley says the house passed a jobs bill before the end of the year and the president mentioned that bill in his state of the union address. He says it’s time for the senate to move on a jobs bill and he is hopeful they are in the process of doing that. Braley made his comments during his weekly conference call with reporters.