By JANET ADAMY
WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, responding to Republican criticism of closed-door meetings on health-care legislation, said Tuesday that she would strive for transparency as Democrats kicked off their final push for a bill.
The head of cable network C-SPAN, which shows government proceedings, wrote a letter to Ms. Pelosi and other congressional leaders saying they should allow cameras at the discussions. That echoed a point Republicans have often made during the health-care debate, charging that Democrats were making too many decisions in private discussions.
Associated PressHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), shown Tuesday at a Capitol Hill news conference, signaled she might be willing to drop the public option from final health legislation to get a version that could pass the Senate.
President Barack Obama met with top House and Senate Democrats late Tuesday and urged them to move quickly in blending the health-care bills passed by each chamber late last year, a Senate aide said. White House staff plan to meet as soon as Wednesday with House and Senate staff to begin hashing out key differences, and House leaders plan to return to the White House Wednesday.
Ms. Pelosi on Tuesday signaled she may be willing to give up on a public health-insurance plan in the final bill. The provision was part of the House bill but doesn't have the support to pass the Senate.
The two versions have some major differences but share key goals, including the aim of providing coverage to about 30 million uninsured people.
Democrats hope to have a unified bill for Mr. Obama to sign before his State of the Union address in late January or February.
To speed up the process, Mr. Obama and top Democrats agreed Tuesday to eschew a formal conference committee and merge the bills in a series of private meetings between the White House and congressional Democrats, a House Democratic aide said. They plan to use the more moderate Senate version as the vehicle for the final bill, allow the House to amend it, and send that bill to the Senate for a final vote.
Republicans said that breaks Mr. Obama's promise during the presidential campaign to televise sessions where the bill was being assembled.
"The American people are tired of backroom deals and big government spending," said Rep. Mike Pence, chairman of the House Republican Conference. "They have a right to know how Democrats plan to pass this government takeover of health care."
In a letter to congressional leaders, C-SPAN Chief Executive Brian Lamb urged both chambers to allow C-SPAN cameras inside the talks, noting that the legislation "will affect the lives of every single American." The letter, dated Dec. 30, surfaced Tuesday.
Top House Democrats deflected the request, saying the process has been highly transparent, with the House holding more than 100 public hearings. They pledged to make the final stages visible in part via the Internet.
It is unusual for C-SPAN, a nonpartisan, nonprofit company created by the cable industry, to weigh in on an issue that has been the subject of sharp partisan differences. C-SPAN noted on its Web site that its letter on health care was consistent with its advocacy throughout its 30-year history for greater public access to Washington events.
It is common practice in Congress for lawmakers to hash out the details of bills in private, even in cases where public conference committee meetings are held.
On Wednesday, House leaders plan to dive into a list of about two dozen disparities between the House and Senate bills. Among the most contentious are new taxes to pay for the bill, insurance coverage for abortion and the extent of subsidies to help lower earners buy health insurance. House leaders want a robust conference process to ensure the bill doesn't tilt too far toward the Senate's version, despite the White House's calls to move quickly.
The public plan, one of the most divisive aspects of the House legislation, appears unlikely to end up in any final bill. Ms. Pelosi said she was focused on ensuring the bill holds private insurers accountable and expands access to insurance. "There are other ways to do that" besides the public option, she said.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.), one of Ms. Pelosi's top lieutenants, said House leaders will expect concessions from Senate Democrats if the public option is dropped. He raised as one possibility repealing the antitrust exemption for insurance companies, a provision that is in the House bill but not the Senate's.
Mr. Obama, who has largely stayed out of the details until now, is expected to play an active role in determining what is in the final bill, White House officials said. In his meeting Tuesday with Democratic leaders including Ms. Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who participated by phone, the president said he wants to strengthen the Senate bill's provisions to make insurance more affordable, the House aide said.
—Martin Vaughan and Laura Meckler contributed to this article.Write to Janet Adamy at janet.adamy@wsj.com
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A4
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