Lori Montgomery

Recent stories written by Lori Montgomery

Reid offers up $849 billion health reform bill to Senate (11/19/2009)

WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid presented an $849 billion health care overhaul package Wednesday that would extend coverage to 31 million Americans and reform insurance practices while adding an array of tax increases, including a rise in payroll taxes for high earners.

Medicare savings questioned (11/15/2009)

WASHINGTON – A plan to slash more than $500 billion from future Medicare spending – one of the biggest sources of funding for President Barack Obama's proposed overhaul of the nation's health care system – would sharply reduce benefits for some senior citizens and could jeopardize access to care for millions of others, according to a government evaluation released Saturday.

Once near death, public option sees a sudden revival (10/24/2009)

WASHINGTON – Democratic leaders in the Senate and House have concluded that a government-run insurance plan is the cheapest way to expand health coverage, and they sought Friday to rally support for the idea, prospects for which have gone in a few short weeks from bleak to bright.

House leaders near health deal (10/17/2009)

WASHINGTON – Preliminary estimates from the Congressional Budget Office show that House leaders are within striking distance of drafting a health overhaul that fits within President Obama's $900 billion limit, but the new numbers have done little to unite the chamber's Democrats around a legislative plan.

$1.4 trillion deficit clouds Obama plans (10/17/2009)

WASHINGTON – The federal budget deficit soared to a record $1.4 trillion in the fiscal year that ended in September, a chasm of red ink unequaled in the postwar era that threatens to complicate the most ambitious goals of the Obama administration, including plans for fresh spending to create jobs and spur economic recovery.

Health industry exemption decried (10/15/2009)

WASHINGTON – Days after the insurance lobby began an aggressive campaign against a Senate plan to overhaul the nation's health-care system, senior Democrats fired back, threatening Wednesday to revoke the industry's long-standing antitrust exemption.

Calls grow for more relief (10/9/2009)

WASHINGTON – Eight months after enacting a massive economic stimulus package, the Obama administration is facing rising pressure from some congressional Democrats to move more aggressively to jump-start the moribund job market and try to spur a housing recovery.

Senate panel votes Tuesday on overhaul of health care (10/9/2009)

WASHINGTON – A key Senate committee will vote Tuesday on its $829 billion overhaul of the nation's health care system, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday, the final hurdle before the full House and Senate can begin their debate on the future of health care.

Legislation gets clean bill of fiscal health (10/8/2009)

WASHINGTON – Congressional budget analysts gave an important political boost Wednesday to a Senate panel's health care overhaul, projecting that the $829 billion measure would both dramatically shrink the ranks of the uninsured and keep President Barack Obama's pledge that doing so would not add "one dime" to federal budget deficits.

Public option takes a hit (9/30/2009)

WASHINGTON – A key Senate panel twice beat back efforts Tuesday to create a government-run insurance plan, dealing a crippling blow to the hopes of liberals seeking to expand the federal role in health coverage as a cornerstone of reform.

Medicare debate embroils parties (9/24/2009)

WASHINGTON – Slogging through a second day of work on legislation intended to overhaul the nation's health care system, the Senate Finance Committee wrestled Wednesday with politically volatile proposals to squeeze money out of Medicare.

Health reform lines drawn (9/23/2009)

WASHINGTON – Democrats and Republicans formed clear battle lines Tuesday as the Senate Finance Committee opened a high-stakes debate over health care legislation proposed last week by the panel's chairman.

Baucus bill cost questioned (9/18/2009)

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers in both parties raised concerns Thursday that the health care reform bill offered by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus a day earlier would impose too high a cost on middle-class Americans and said they would seek to change the legislation to ease that potential burden.

Hunting for a bargain (9/9/2009)

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will seek to rally Congress to pass health care reform in a prime-time address today, even as lawmakers continue struggling to reach broad consensus on some of the toughest issues facing them in the debate.

Baucus sets health deadline (9/5/2009)

WASHINGTON – The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee pressured his team of health care negotiators on Friday to agree to a bipartisan overhaul plan before President Obama addresses Congress next week, warning that otherwise he will put forward his own proposal.