"Unplugged Exclusive:" Sharyl Attkisson spoke with Monroe Co. Commissioner of Human Services Kelly Reed about widespread problems with New York's stimulus program.
Obama on the Right Track?
In his column yesterday, David Brooks argued that President Obama has aligned himself with the liberal wing of his party. Whether it has been the massive stimulus package or his push on health care reform, Brooks argues Obama has not...
Obama: Joint session Congress, health
by Peter Nicholas and Mark Silva
President Barack Obama, seeking to revive sagging public support for his health-care initiatives as lawmakers return from their summer recess, plans to deliver an address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.
The president's address, which will draw national television coverage, will be aimed at focusing a balking Congress and a doubtful American public alike on the essentials of a health-care overhaul that the president is seeking by the end of the year.
It will be, for a president who has conducted his own "town-hall'' styled events to promote his plansyet has seen a summer of protests at many of the town halls conducted by members of Congressan attempt to regain momentum for plans that have advanced through the House and are under debate in the Senate. The president is pressing for a vote on a final plan by the year's end.
It also will be an attempt to focus a debate that has grown clouded by criticism for details which the White House has dismissed as rumors, such as the contention that senior citizens will lose some of their benefits under Medicare. The White House insists they will not.
Obama has underscored the principles of his plansinsuring millions of Americans lacking health-care coverage, improving coverage for those who have it and controlling the spiraling cost of health care for all, including the government. But the White House has allowed congressional leaders to negotiate the terms of the plan, with conservative Democrats and Republicans alike balking at some of what the president is proposing.
Republicans say they will be seeking details, not rhetoric.
"Obviously, we want to hear what the president has to say,'' said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), "but the American people don't want a new speech, they want a new plan. We need to scrap the Democrats' government takeover of health care and start over on a real, bipartisan plan for reform."
The planned addresswith the time yet to be setarrives at a time of divided public opinion about the president's plans, according to a new poll.
A slim majority, 51 percent, of those surveyed said they oppose Obama's "plan to reform health care,'' from everything they have heard of it, a CNN/Opinion Research poll taken over the weekend and released today found. And 48 percent said they support it.
Among those with strong opinions, the survey shows, opposition is stronger -- 41 percent strongly opposing the president's plans, 25 percent strongly favoring them.
Interestingly, a majority -- 55 percent -- said they would support a public health insurance option administered by the federal government, which lately has become the most controversial and perhaps expendable part of the president's plans. Most -- 53 percent -- also say they think Obama wants the government to take over health care.
Most of those surveyed say Congress should continue working on the plans, with one in four saying Congress should make only relatively minor changes and 28 percent saying Congress should make major changes. Just one in five say Congress should stop working on any measures that would change the nation's health-care system.
As things stand, more people -- 52 percent -- said the current health-care system would make them feel more secure than those -- 44 percent -- who said Obama's plan would.
Most people surveyed -- 55 percent -- said the plans that the administration is working on would make them pay more for medical care. Just one in five say the plans would cut the cost of health care. Only one in five say their families would be better off, nearly 40 percent worse off and 40 percent about the same under Obama's plans.
The survey of 1,010 adults was conducted Aug. 28-31 and carries a possible 3 percentage point margin of error.
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