WASHINGTON, July 26 (UPI) -- A leading conservative Democratic U.S. lawmaker says Congress should consider scrapping current healthcare reform proposals and eyeing alternatives.
Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., one of the so-called Blue Dog Democrats whose hallmark is fiscal conservatism, said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation" that healthcare bills now being considered by Congress may be too partisan and could add to the national deficit, and should either be fixed or scrapped.
"We can try to amend the current bills that are in Congress and that is a possibility, or there are other approaches that are completely bipartisan and introduced and actually score well according to the Congressional Budget Office," he said.
Cooper mentioned as an example a proposal that eliminates a contentious "public option" and would instead create a new, subsidized private health insurance market for employers.
On the same show, senior White House adviser David Axelrod said President Barack Obama wouldn't rule out asking Congress to skip its annual August recess to work on passing healthcare reform, saying, "Well, I think if the view was that that would improve our chances of getting something done, I am sure the president would be willing to do that."
