CNN "American Morning" - Transcript

Interview

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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. President Obama wanted a vote on health care reform before Congress takes it August recess. In the Senate, that's not likely now. But for any chance of getting a bill passed, the president is probably going to need the support of fiscally conservative Democrats in the House, the so-called Blue Dogs. And right now he doesn't have it.

Let's bring in one of those Blue Dogs, Congressman Mike Ross of Arkansas. It's good to see you, congressman. So what are the problems that the Blue Dog Democrats have with the proposals that are making their way through Congress right now?

REP. MIKE ROSS (D-AR), MEMBER, BLUE DOG COALITION: Well, John, for about three months we've been indicating that the current House bill doesn't go nearly far enough at containing costs. You know, there's two issues here when we talk about health care reform. Obviously, one issue is making sure those who do not have insurance today have an affordable plan for them.

The other issue is the fact that health care costs are growing at twice the rate of inflation. And until we -- until we get health care costs growing at a rate somewhat closer to normal inflation, we can never balance the federal budget again nor can the employers continue to be able to afford to pay for insurance.

We're already seeing more and more of the cost shift from the employer to the employee. It's going to reach a point in the not too distant future where neither can afford it. This bill doesn't do nearly enough to contain those costs to get after the kind of fundamental reforms and changes that we need and how we deliver and pay for health care.

And, of course, our statement on that we've been saying for three months was recently backed up by the CBO director last week, Elmendorf, when he came out and said, in fact, that the current House bill doesn't go nearly far enough at containing and controlling costs both short term and long term.

ROBERTS: Yes. He said that that would lead to a $239 billion deficit over the course of ten years.

OK. Well, here's the thing that people at home might not be able to figure out, congressman, is they hear all the proponents of these bills to say, this is going to save us money in the long run. The president says it's going to save us money. The speaker of the House says it's going to save us money. Charlie Rangel, Henry Waxman, they're all saying this is going to cut down costs. Why have they got it so wrong?

ROSS: It's not that they've got it wrong. Actually, that can happen if we do it right. And, you know, as the CBO director indicated last week, this bill falls short of doing that. And so, what we're saying is this is fundamental change that's going to affect all 300 million people in America. And let's not rush it. Let's slow down. Let's get it right and ensure that the American people get the kind of health care that they need and deserve.

I mean, look, the president, I was at the White House in March for the National Health Care summit. He said at that time that he wanted to get health care reform done this year. We share that goal and I am very optimistic that we will get health care reform done this year. But the American people want to slow down. They want us to get it right and they want us to have time to read the bills that we're voting on.

ROBERTS: There are some people up there on Capitol Hill who aren't too happy with you. The Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi saying, "In recent days some within the Democratic Caucus have raised spurious claims that the cost of reforming health care in America is something our nation cannot afford." That was a veiled swipe at the Blue Dogs.

And the coalition of 19 organization there in Washington sent another letter to the House leadership, again, couching the language now, particularly singling out the Blue Dogs, but, you know, I got the back story around all of it from the PR folks there who sent that letter and it was the Blue Dogs who were trying to, you know, slow walk this process. They're going to kill this process. They're going to ensure that middle class Americans pay three times what members of Congress do for their health care. Is any of that true?

ROSS: My response is quite simple. Again, I go back to the CBO director who validated the Blue Dog concerns, our concerns that this bill falls short of containing costs. I would also point to President Obama. Two or three days ago on CBS when he said the Blue Dogs rightfully have serious concerns about the need to do a better job in the House bill of containing costs.

And let me tell you that this is not a battle with the White House. It's not a battle with the leadership. This is part of the legislative process and we're simply trying to be a constructive part of the legislative process and moving health care reform forward.

ROBERTS: So, do you think that the president will get a bill and, if he does, when?

ROSS: I suspect that we will pass health care reform this year. It's not going to happen before the August break for several reasons, including the fact that Mr. Reid yesterday indicated that they would not be bringing a bill to the Senate floor until September.

You know, whether it's August 1 or sometime in September or October, look, this is complicated and very complex. We've been trying to do health care reform since Harry Truman. Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, they all failed at it because it is very complex and very complicated. But to the president's credit, let me say that we are closer now to meaningful health care reform than we've ever been before.

And I'm telling you that something this complex, something that affects all 300 million of us in America, a bill that's supposed to be about containing costs and, yet, we're still waiting on the CBO to actually give us the cost for the current House bill. So it's like asking us to balance the budget when we don't know what the budget is.

And so, we need to slow down. We need time to read this. We need time to find out exactly what it is costing and how much each of these cost cutting measures can save before we move in haste.

ROBERTS: All right. Congressman Mike Ross, it's good to talk to you this morning. We'll, of course, keep following this very important issue. Thanks for your time.

ROSS: Real good.

ROBERTS: All right.

ROSS: Thank you.

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