A FIRED-UP President Barack Obama launched a populist assault on Monday on price-gouging American insurance firms, escalating his last-ditch bid to pass a historic health reform bill.
President Obama laid a bold bet with his remaining political capital in an event in metropolitan Philadelphia, painting insurance firms as villains and seeking to cajole lawmakers wavering over tough votes crucial to his presidency.
'I'm kind of fired up,' President Obama said, reprising 2008 campaign language in an outspoken attack on insurance firms he had once sought to court during his faltering year-long drive to reform the mostly private US health system.
President Obama is piling pressure on the House of Representatives to back his plan by March 18, before he leaves on a trip to Indonesia and Australia - a week-long voyage that could drain political momentum from the health care push.
He wants the House to ditch legislation it approved in November and pass the Senate's version, coupled with 'fixes' to that bill - but the approach is high-risk as some conservative Democrats oppose it.
'The United States Congress owes the American people a final up-or-down vote on health care. It's time to make a decision,' President Obama said in Pennsylvania, a state which helped him claim the presidency in 2008.
- Indian Journalist.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment