Nelson Readout on Health Care Meeting With Obama

NELSON STATEMENT ON HEALTH CARE MEETING AT THE WHITE HOUSE

July 16, 2009 – After meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House today to discuss health care reform efforts, Nebraska's Senator Ben Nelson released the following statement:

“I appreciated the President's invitation and I feel we had a very good meeting today at the White House about the need for real health care reform that improves the lives of all Americans.

“The President sought my views on where things stand in Congress, which we discussed.  For my part, I suggested we not impose an arbitrary deadline to get something done.

“I also assured him that I am working to be constructive and to move the process forward, so we can develop bipartisan reform that reduces the cost of health care, raises the quality, expands choices and extends coverage to those who cannot attain it today.  While we pursue those goals we must not detrimentally impact those with health insurance or worsen the national debt.

“I don't know if all of that's possible. So I made it clear to the President I can't support anything until I've seen everything. I do remain hopeful and believe we are making good progress.”