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Obama Backs Health Surtax

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, looking to pay for his ambitious health-care plan and shore up public support, endorsed a surtax on families earning $1 million a year for the first time Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - JULY 22: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House July 22, 2009 in Washington, DC. Obama is expected to press his case for health care reform during the prime time televised event. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“To me, that meets my principle” that the cost of overhauling health care is “not being shouldered by families who are already having a tough time,” he said at a prime-time White House news conference.

At a critical moment in his presidency, Mr. Obama is hoping to regain momentum on his domestic agenda by seizing control of the health-care debate. How effectively the president delivered the message in his late-Wednesday news conference — and the impact on public opinion and a skittish Congress — will have major implications for the rest of his year, and perhaps for his full term.

He also pressed his case for giving independent experts greater power over Medicare cost-cutting. He is pushing the idea partly to satisfy conservative House Democrats worried that the health legislation doesn’t do enough to control health-care spending. But the president’s strong endorsement sets up a showdown with some senior Democrats on Capitol Hill who expressed opposition to the idea earlier Wednesday.

[Read More of this article at the Wallstreet Journal >>]

Kyith

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