White House Says It's Confident Reid Bill Will Make It

As it has all along throughout Democrats' health care reform initiative, the White House is projecting confidence that it will get a bill to the president's desk. After Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled his bill yesterday (available in its entirety here), White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer praised it today on a conference call with reporters and said he's confident Reid's bill will make it through the Senate.

"We've come a long way; we've made a lot of progress. We're very confident that we're going to get this bill to the president's desk and have him sign it and prove, once and for all, that here in Washington we can still bring people together to solve the very big challenges facing this country," Pfeiffer said, trumpeting the bill's Congressional Budget Office score--which says it would cut the deficit by $130 billion and spend $848 billion over 10 years.

Also on the call, White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle trumpeted the CBO score as well: "From day one, the president's goal has been to enact legislation that offers security and stability to those who have insurance and affordable coverage to those who don't, and that lowers costs," DeParle said. "...We are really pleased to see that this bill from the Senate does do that."