House Committee Chairmen Miller, Waxman, and Rangel Pledge to Move Health Reform Forward

WASHINGTON, DC –– Today Chairmen Henry A. Waxman, Charles B. Rangel, and George Miller sent a letter to President Obama regarding their commitment to work together to pass national health reform.  The text of the letter follows:  Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to thank you for organizing the White House Forum on Health Reform last week and to let you know of our intention to work closely together to pass national health reform.  Comprehensive reform is essential to controlling health care costs, reviving our economy, and expanding coverage.  We are committed to working with you to pass this legislation this year.

In the House, jurisdiction over health reform is shared among three primary committees.  As chairs of these committees and veterans of past health reform debates, we have agreed to coordinate our efforts.  Our intention is to bring similar legislation before our committees and to work from a harmonized approach to ensure success.

We have also agreed on a timetable for our joint efforts.  In order to achieve our shared goal of enacting health reform this year, we will coordinate our committee consideration so that action on the House floor can occur before the August recess.

Your health care forum gave these efforts a strong start.  As we proceed, we look forward to working closely with you, senior Administration officials, and our colleagues in the Senate.  We will also be broadly reaching out to members of the House to build wide support for this essential effort.  Your leadership and guidance are critically important to our collective success.

Sincerely,

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