Obama hails AARP, AMA endorsements

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By Jon Ward

President Obama on Thursday urged Congress to heed new endorsements of the House health care bill by the AARP and the American Medical Association and pass the bill on Saturday, in a rare appearance at the White House briefing.

Mr. Obama strode into the Brady Press Briefing Room unannounced and delivered a roughly three-minute statement before press secretary Robert Gibbs began his daily back-and-forth with reporters.

The president said that AARP, the nation's largest seniors organization, has signed on to the House bill because it knows that the legislation will "strengthen Medicare, not jeopardize it."

"They know it will protect the benefits our seniors receive, not cut them," Mr. Obama said.

The AMA, one of the country's largest groups for medical professionals, would not be behind the bill if "if they really believed that it would lead to government bureaucrats making decisions that are best left to doctors," Mr. Obama said.

House Democratic leaders want to vote on a bill by Saturday evening. The Senate has yet to begin debate on its version of health care reform.

"Now that the doctors and medical professionals of America are standing with us, now that the organization charged with looking out for the interests of seniors are with us, we are even closer" to passing a bill, Mr. Obama said.