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Bill Clinton gives a health-care pep talk Posted on 11/11/2009
Former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday met with Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Clinton urged them to learn from his mistakes and pass healthcare reform.
The conference comes 15 years after his failed effort to overhaul the nation's healthcare system.
Bill Clinton Comments Former President Clinton said after the lunch meeting he urged Democrats to compromise when necessary, but to move a bill quickly.
Clinton said, "My argument was: This is an economic issue."
He said, "The second thing is that on the policy, there is no perfect bill because there's always going to be consequences. So there will be amendments to this effort, whatever they pass ….It's not important to be perfect, but it's important to move, to get the ball rolling."
No Holding Back In his closed-door meeting, Clinton didn't hold back.
He fired a shot at conservatives who are rallying against the Democratic move for healthcare reform.
Sen. Whitehouse Comments Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, said Clinton told the conference that the reason that the tea-party movement is so loud is because it is upset that Democrats are getting closer to enacting healthcare reform.
Sen. Brown Comments Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, said Clinton had drawn on his 1993-1994 defeat on health care and on then president Lyndon Johnson's victorious push 30 years earlier to create the Medicare health program for the elderly.
Brown said Clinton warned lawmakers that "the price of failure is too high, (and) we won't have another chance for a long time."
Sen. Dodd Comments Sen. Chris Dodd, D-CT, said Clinton had discussed the stakes "from a policy standpoint and a political standpoint" but had not endorsed specific proposals -- "and wisely not."
Dodd said Clinton underlined the "overwhelming" economic argument for changing health care in the United States, which pays vastly more than other industrialized nations with no meaningful edge in quality of care.
Failure will Endager Democratic Majorities Clinton's political message to Senate Democrats was: Failing to pass healthcare reform will endanger Democratic majorities in Congress.
Clinton said, "The worst thing we can do is nothing."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, invited Clinton to appear at the lunch while White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel helped coordinate the visit.
