Washington President Bill Clintons advisers estimated early in his term that passing a health care overhaul would require a delicate balance of Democratic and Republican support, needing at least eight moderate Republicans in the Senate and 15 or more in the House to win approval, according to documents released Friday. <\/p>\n
New records released from the Clinton White House show how the presidents team tried to build support for the ill-fated legislation, led by former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, in setting up a schedule to achieve passage before the 1994 midterm elections. Democrats were routed in the election after the overhaul failed. They lost control of both the House and Senate. <\/p>\n
A strategy memo from 1993 argued the plan would require support from enough conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans without alienating too many liberal Democrats. But the bill never cleared a House committee. <\/p>\n
The complexity of our bill undermines our chances for success but without complexity, success is impossible, the unsigned memo said. <\/p>\n
The documents were among about 7,500 pages of records released through the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark., on Friday, covering a wide range of topics including the former first ladys work on health care, the administrations promotion of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. <\/p>\n
The records are being closely scrutinized as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton considers a second presidential campaign in 2016. <\/p>\n
The documents show parallels between the Clinton era and the current White House under President Barack Obama. Obamas health care overhaul is expected to be a major deciding point in the 2014 midterm elections and Republicans have assailed the White House for approving the 2010 legislation without a single GOP vote. <\/p>\n
Preparing for an August 1994 news conference, Clinton discussed the teetering health care overhaul at length. A lot of them want to know they can keep their own plan if they like it, the president told his aides. That point would be heard again, years later. <\/p>\n
At the start of the enrollment period for the Obamacare plan, the government website for new signups was riddled with technical problems. A spate of private policy cancellations forced Obama to recant his pledge that all Americans who liked their health insurance plans could simply keep them. <\/p>\n
In 1993, Clintons team aimed to put together a diverse coalition in Congress to overhaul health care. The winning congressional majority for health care reform depends on holding almost all liberal and moderate Democrats, winning a significant number of conservative Democrats and attracting 8-10 moderate Republicans in the Senate (assuming we need 60 votes) and 15-20 in the House, the memo said. <\/p>\n
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Clinton sought GOP support for health care<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Washington President Bill Clintons advisers estimated early in his term that passing a health care overhaul would require a delicate balance of Democratic and Republican support, needing at least eight moderate Republicans in the Senate and 15 or more in the House to win approval, according to documents released Friday. New records released from the Clinton White House show how the presidents team tried to build support for the ill-fated legislation, led by former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, in setting up a schedule to achieve passage before the 1994 midterm elections. Continue reading