White House Courts GOP Endorsements To Demonstrate Bipartisanship In Health Reform

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 08 Oct 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) on Tuesday joined a growing list of Republicans outside of Washington, D.C., who have publicly endorsed President Obama's mission to reform health care this year, Reuters reports (Zengerle, Reuters, 10/6).

According to the Washington Post, the White House is orchestrating the Republican endorsements "to provide fresh evidence of bipartisan support for health care reform." Others who recently have pledged their support for reform efforts include: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a former Republican who is now independent; Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.); Mark McClellan, who oversaw both FDA and CMS programs under President George W. Bush; and Tommy Thompson, a former Republican presidential candidate, HHS secretary and four-term governor of Wisconsin (Shear/Connolly, Washington Post, 10/7).

According to Politico, Schwarzenegger issued a statement following direct appeals from the Obama administration, saying, "I appreciate [Obama's] partnership with the states and encourage our colleagues on both sides of the political aisle at the national level to move forward and accomplish" reform efforts "for the American people" (Burns/Smith, Politico, 10/8). The governor stopped short of endorsing any specific reform bill currently in Congress (Herszenhorn, "Prescriptions," New York Times, 10/6).

The Post reports that the White House campaign is aimed in part at Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who Democrats see as perhaps the only possible GOP vote in support of the Senate Finance Committee's bill (Washington Post, 10/7).

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