Trying to advance health-care legislation, the White House proposed Monday that a tax on high-end health plans be delayed for all workers, not just those in unions, and suggested new taxes to help make up for the lost revenue.
President Barack Obama will carry the proposal into a bipartisan meeting with congressional leaders on Thursday. Democrats try to advance this plan and push their legislation through final passage in Congress.
Republicans are planning to bring their own ideas to the meeting, and aids said last week they are prepared to incorporate Republican proposals into the Democratic plan. But White House officials made clear again Monday that they have no intention of scratching their legislation and starting over, as Republicans are demanding.
The new White House proposal would cost $950 billion over 10 years, more than the bill approved by the Senate but less than the House measure.