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WASHINGTON: The White House is preparing its own health care bill as Congress is struggling to reach an bipartisan agreement on the policy reform, said a report on Friday.
Citing several internal sources, the CNN report said that President Barack Obama’s administration is quietly working to draft health care legislation and preparing for the possibility to deliver it to the Congress after Obama’s scheduled speech to a joint session there next week.
Sources also told the TV network that the president was expected to lay out a path to reform in his speech in a bid to bridge various differences in the competing proposals.
He would also noted that if Congress passes a bill now, it would serve as a foundation of any further reform in the future, said the report.
Unlike the Clinton administration, the Obama government only issued some guidelines and principles on the health care policy reform for Congress to follow when drafting the bill.
So far, there have been three health care reform bills in discussion at the Democrats-dominated Congress. Two of them, which were drafted by the House health committee and the Senate health committee, respectively, share a lot of similarities and both were hit by opposition from the Republican side.
Another one, which was a bipartisan product by the Senate financial committee, was considered most likely to win the greenlight at Congress.
Republican Senator Olympia Snowe on Friday said that a key group of six Senate Finance Committee members would continue their work next week to achieve bipartisan agreement on legislation.
“When Congress returns to session next week, we will be working with the same intensity we’ve brought to bear this year to achieve a consensus bill — as I believe we must reduce the costs of health care and make coverage more affordable for all Americans,” she said in a statement.

WASHINGTON: The US government asserted the stimulus package a success in revitalizing the economy, according to a report released by the Treasury Department on Friday.
The report, issued around the 200 day anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act), details funds provided to states, local communities, and families through a variety of programs, including the Making Work Pay Tax Credit, payments for renewable energy production, funds for affordable housing development, and Build America Bonds.
“In 200 days, the Recovery Act has made significant progress in revitalizing our communities and providing the basis for economic growth,” said Treasury Deputy Secretary Neal Wolin.
Recent data indicate that the economy is getting better, at least less bad than expected.
But “less bad is not enough,” said Alan Krueger, Treasury Chief Economist and Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy, on a media briefing, “the labor market remains severely challenged.”
The Labor Department reported Friday that the country’s unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent in August, the highest in 26 years, and up from 9.4 percent a month ago.
The White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday that the unemployment rate will “exceed 10 percent.”
Despite the progress of the economy, the effectiveness of the government stimulus policy has criticism.
The Heritage Foundation, a Washington based think-tank said that the Obama Administration’s 787 billion dollars stimulus package failed, at least in terms of employment.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. : A man who told authorities “My whole family’s dead!” in a frantic 911 call was charged Friday with killing the eight people attacked in his family’s mobile home in coastal Georgia.
Guy Heinze Jr., 22, was arrested Friday on eight counts of first-degree murder in the slayings last weekend at a mobile home park a few miles north of Brunswick, a port city midway between Savannah and Jacksonville, Fla. Among those killed were seven of Heinze’s relatives.
Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering would not say what evidence led police to charge Heinze. The suspect was returned to the county jail Friday less than two hours after his release on bond on lesser charges.
The chief also declined to say whether police think Heinze acted alone or with others.
“Right now, I don’t know,” Doering said. “I do know he’s involved… I would have not allowed him to be arrested if I was not comfortable with that.”
Doering said he wasn’t sure Heinze was responsible for the deaths until late Friday afternoon when two new pieces of evidence became available, but he wouldn’t say what they were.
In the call to emergency dispatchers early Aug. 29, Heinze said he’d come home to find the bodies and that it appeared the victims had been beaten to death. Seven were found dead at the scene, an eighth died at a hospital, and the attack’s only survivor remained hospitalized after being critically injured.
“It’s the most heinous crime we’ve ever had in this community,” said Doering, who insists that revealing details about the slayings could jeopardize the investigation.