President Admits “Work To Be Done” On Reform

The euphoria of Saturday’s House vote on health care reform has morphed into a reality check for the White House as President Obama touched extensively on the burgeoning controversy over a pro-life amendment to the recently passed House version of health care reform legislation as well as the continuing hurdles faced in his overall push for reform in a Monday interview with ABC News.

The president stressed that compromise must be found on the issue of whether a provision added to the House reform bill intended to gain support of pro-life Democrats goes too far in restricting access to abortions for women.

“I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill,” Obama said. “And we’re not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions.”

Saying the bill cannot change the status quo regarding the ban on federally funded abortions, the president said, “There are strong feelings on both sides” about an amendment passed Saturday and added to the legislation, “and what that tells me is that there needs to be some more work before we get to the point where we’re not changing the status quo.”

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“I want to make sure that the provision that emerges meets that test — that we are not in some way sneaking in funding for abortions, but, on the other hand, that we’re not restricting women’s insurance choices,” he said.

Obama also hinted at further dealmaking before the two version of health care reform emerging in Congress - one already passed in the House, the other working its way to a Senate vote - are reconciled for the final piece to what would be a historic achievement and impressive political victory.

“I think everybody understands that there’s going to be work to be done on the Senate side,” he said. “It’s not going to match up perfectly with the House side.”

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