Key Chairman Threatens to Bypass Committee on Health Care Bill

A key House committee chairman on Friday threatened to bypass moderate Democrats who are holding up the health care reform bill and bring the package straight to the floor, in the latest showdown on health care that is dividing Congress and Democratic party ranks.

From Fox News: A key House committee chairman on Friday threatened to roll over moderate Democrats who are holding up the health care reform bill and bring the package straight to the floor.

The statement underscored the deep divisions the health care reform debate is causing in the ranks of the Democratic Party.

Fiscally conservative Blue Dogs are holding up the bill in the House Energy and Commerce Committee over cost concerns and other issues. But Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on Friday accused those Democrats of empowering Republicans.

"I won't allow them to turn over control of the committee to the Republicans," Waxman said, threatening to bypass the committee process.