Health Reform 'Gang of Six' at Death's Door

Bipartisan effort has devolved into sniping, members showboating
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 1, 2009 9:45 AM CDT

The bipartisan “Gang of Six” lawmakers working on health care reform looks like history, Ezra Klein reports in the Washington Post. Yesterday, the White House slammed one of the group’s members, Sen. Mike Enzi, after he trashed the Democratic plan for "making the economy sicker without saving you any money," and accused them of pushing the “rationing of health care.” “Everyone I’ve spoken to in the Senate believes, strongly, that this process is about to break down,” writes Klein.

Chuck Grassley, who has been sending out fundraising emails attacking "Obama-care," is still professing confidence in a bipartisan deal, though one without a public insurance option, says AP. And Max Baucus, the group's leader, said yesterday an overhaul measure will be presented this year with or without bipartisan support. But at this point Gang of Six Republicans are working, if they continue to work at all, “not to further the cause of a final bill, but to enhance their stature as spokesmen for the opposition.”
(More bipartisan stories.)

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