Patrick huddles with Mass. delegation

By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Governor Deval Patrick and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo met with the state's congressional delegation at the Capitol this morning to discuss a variety of issues, including the national health care overhaul the House may begin voting on this weekend.

Patrick said the economic woes confronting Massachusetts were also a primary focus of the talks, which those who participated in them said also covered education, transportation and global warming.

"We are trying to project a reality to the public that is so in our working relationship -- we are working closely together, trying as best we can, with the tools we have, to bring some relief to people who are suffering and some hope to everybody," he said.

Patrick, who met with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Wednesday, said he was trying to make sure that the federal health care bills taking shape would not harm the state's health care system, which depends heavily on support from the federal government and provides far more generous subsidies for low-income people than the federal proposals on the table, and would provide the state the flexibility it needs to work on cost containment.

Representative Edward Markey, a Democrat from Malden and the dean of the delegation, said he is certain the House version of the legislation, which is scheduled to be voted on Saturday evening, would benefit Massachusetts.
"Our delegation is supporting the legislation because we know it does help Massachusetts," he said.

On his whirlwind two-day visit to Washington, Patrick is also meeting with other top administration officials, top Senate Democrat Harry Reid, and Massachusetts wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The governor is scheduled to have a brief audience this afternoon with his friend and ally, President Obama.