Blue Dogs meet with Obama on healthcare

WASHINGTON, July 21 (UPI) -- Blue Dog Democrats on a U.S. House panel had the chance to voice their concerns about healthcare reform during a meeting with President Obama Tuesday.

In remarks after the meeting, Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., a Blue Dog who has taken the lead in reducing the bill's costs, said "no final decision has been made" by the group of fiscally conservative Democrats, The Hill reported.

Ross, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Obama outlined what he would like to see as part of the healthcare proposal, including that it not increase the deficit.

House members discussed "about 10 issues we're concerned with," Ross said. "Obviously, cost-cutting is first on that list," he said.

Ross said he and other Blue Dogs want to wait for the Congressional Budget Office to score the bill and to see other possible cost-cutting proposals.

Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., told reporters the entire panel has " great concern on the cost of the legislation."

"That is a view that is not just theirs (Blue Dogs), but ours as well," Waxman said.

Before meeting with Democrats, Obama blamed Republicans for miring healthcare legislation in Congress.

Senate Republicans, while keeping up their attack against the Democrats' healthcare platform, defended themselves against charges that they were playing politics, the Washington publication said.

"I hear it said repeatedly by some on the other side that Republicans are not in favor of healthcare reform," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said. "I can't find a single Republican senator who has said that. ... It's blatantly false."