President Obama urges labor support for health overhaul

Sep 16 2009

The Washington Post reports that President Obama "urged the nation's largest labor federation... to get behind his proposal to overhaul the U.S. health-care system, saying that reform would help revive an economy that is still struggling with high unemployment." Speaking to the annual convention of the AFL-CIO, Obama's appearance was "aimed at rallying union support for his health-care overhaul plan, his administration's top domestic priority, ahead of crucial debates in Congress."

Obama repeated many of the points from his health reform speech last week to Congress, reminding the crowd that "the time for bickering is over" and that "now is the time for action." He also promoted a government-run insurance plan as part of the overhaul because "it would offer Americans more choice and encourage competition." In addition, "he insisted that while his plan would cost $900 billion over 10 years, it would be paid for -- unlike the Bush administration's 'wars and tax cuts,' which he said had 'ballooned our deficit'" (9/15).

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