Health care lobbying ramps up as debate reaches a critical point

Plans include a massive, 8 million-piece direct mail campaign plus a national multimillion-dollar TV ad blitz by AARP, the lobby for older Americans that has generally supported the health overhaul drive. The US Chamber of Commerce will send lawmakers a letter next week signed by 2,800 companies and business groups opposing the effort, and is working with local chambers of commerce to bring business people to Washington to lobby legislators this month.

The nation’s television stations, which last month hosted more than $28 million in ads on the health overhaul, may see even heavier spending in September, according to Evan Tracey, president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group in Arlington, Va.

The high-intensity lobbying underscores the pivotal moment that business, consumer, political, and ideological groups believe is arriving in the health care fight.

President Obama and Democrats driving the effort lost ground during an August recess that saw noisy protests at some lawmakers’ town hall meetings and dimming support for the president in polls. With Obama planning to address Congress on the issue Wednesday, interest groups want to help shape opinions as Obama and members of Congress decide what August meant and what the legislation should look like.

Obama, vacationing at Camp David, spoke by telephone yesterday to leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who are pressing for a government-run health care plan. Obama has wavered on whether a public option will be part of a health care bill.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, whose panel is trying to craft a bipartisan compromise by Sept. 15, signaled yesterday that he will move forward with legislation soon, whether or not the months of talks produce a breakthrough.

After a nearly two-hour teleconference with his small group of negotiators, Baucus was careful to leave the door open to a long-sought deal, but said, “I am committed to getting health care reform done - done soon and done right.’’

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“I think we’ve reached a little bit of the silly season when the president of the United States can’t tell kids in school to study hard and stay in school,’’ White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters. “I think both political parties agree that the dropout rate is something that threatens our long-term economic success.’’

Obama’s planned address Tuesday to students has prompted a push-back from some quarters over what the White House sees as an important but innocuous topic.

Some conservative critics say Obama is trying to promote a political agenda and overstepping his bounds, taking the federal government too far into public school business.

Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, a Republican and potential presidential contender in 2012, said that Obama’s speech is “uninvited’’ and that the president’s move raises questions of content and motive.

Many school districts have decided not to show Obama’s speech, partly in response to concerns from parents.

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Van Jones, an administration official specializing in environmentally friendly “green jobs,’’ issued a statement of apology Thursday.

When asked yesterday whether President Obama still had confidence in him, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said only that Jones “continues to work in the administration,’’ then referred to Jones’s own statement.

A top House Republican, Mike Pence of Indiana, called on Jones to quit or be fired.

The matter surfaced after news reports of a derogatory comment Jones had made in the past about Republicans, and separately, of Jones’s name appearing on a 2004 petition that asked for congressional hearings and other investigations into whether high-level government officers had allowed the Sept. 11 attacks to occur.

“It certainly does not reflect my views, now or ever,’’ Jones said in his statement. He also apologized “if I have offended anyone with statements I made in the past.’’

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