Lori Montgomery

Recent stories written by Lori Montgomery

Democrats court 60th vote (12/17/2009)

WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans vowed Wednesday to use every available tactic to delay voting on the health care bill as Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., scrambled to unify Democrats in support of the legislation.

Senate likely to drop Medicare buy-in (12/15/2009)

WASHINGTON – Senate Democratic leaders appeared poised Monday night to abandon efforts to create a government-run insurance safety net in their push for health care reform as they attempted to close ranks around a bill they hoped would win the backing of all 60 members of their caucus.

Deal would remove public option plan (12/9/2009)

WASHINGTON – Democratic Senate negotiators struck a tentative agreement Tuesday night to drop the controversial government-run insurance plan from their overhaul of the health care system, hoping to remove a last major roadblock preventing the bill from moving to a final vote in the chamber.

President rallies Senate Democrats (12/7/2009)

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama made a rare Sunday visit to the Capitol to urge a fractious Democratic caucus to pull together to pass landmark health care legislation.

Health reform deals in doubt (12/6/2009)

WASHINGTON – Heading into a make-or-break week, Senate Democratic leaders are struggling to preserve the fragile support of interest groups for a sweeping overhaul of the nation's health care system, even as lawmakers seek to change the carefully crafted provisions that brought the groups on board.

GOP loses on health care vote (12/4/2009)

WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans lost their first major challenge to a Democratic plan to overhaul the health care system, as the Senate voted Thursday to reject a GOP proposal to strip the package of nearly $500 billion in Medicare cuts, its most important source of financing.

Votes on health care bill likely today (12/2/2009)

WASHINGTON – Senators prepared to cast their first votes today on health care reform, but even as partisan divisions hardened and contentious amendments stacked up, Democrats increasingly expressed optimism that they would succeed in passing a bill before Christmas.

Report: Bill won't raise premiums (12/1/2009)

WASHINGTON – As the Senate opened debate Monday on a landmark plan to overhaul the nation's health care system, congressional budget analysts said the measure would leave premiums unchanged or slightly lower for the vast majority of Americans, contradicting assertions by the insurance industry that the average family's coverage would rise by thousands of dollars if the proposal became law.

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.