WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton will play a prominent role at a key Democratic Party healthcare reform meeting, House of Representatives sources say.
Unnamed House aides told the Washington publication The Hill Clinton is likely to deliver a keynote speech on healthcare next week at the House Democrats' annual retreat in a reminder to lawmakers of how efforts to reform healthcare were killed by Congress early in his presidency -- and that afterward the party lost power in mid-term elections.
The Hill cited sources Saturday saying Clinton's role at the retreat will be bigger than even that of President Barack Obama. It comes at a time when Democratic leaders are preparing to merge two very different House and Senate bills, with the belief growing the final product will closely mirror legislation the Senate passed Christmas Eve.
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., this week promised liberal members she would not allow a vote on the same bill that passed the Senate. Multiple Democratic sources told The Hill Pelosi has specifically said a government-run "public option," bitterly opposed by right-leaning Democrats, is still on the negotiating table.
