Obama Goes Big With Health Care Proposal

Barack Obama’s $950 billion health care proposal yesterday defied expectations that he would scale back his ambitions now that Republicans have the votes to filibuster the bill in the Senate. The White House braintrust has decided to go big one last time, believing that there’s still a small chance of victory—and that voters will punish them if they abandon the cause, the Washington Post reports.

Plan A is to pick up some GOP votes at the bipartisan health care summit, but if that fails, Obama and company are now open to pushing the bill through with a simple majority through reconciliation. “This is our last, best hope for comprehensive health care reform,” said one senior administration official. “This is like the ‘last exit for gas’ sign on the interstate.” (More Barack Obama stories.)