http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200907302105dowjonesdjonline001148&title=us-sen-finance-staffer-exhorts-lobbyists-to-get-behind-talksUS Sen Finance Staffer Exhorts Lobbyists To Get Behind Talks
By Martin Vaughan, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A top staffer for Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., warned a group of business lobbyists Thursday that if they don't help bipartisan Senate negotiations on health care to succeed, they might get stuck with Democrat- written provisions they won't like.
The remarks by Jon Selib, chief of staff to Baucus, were made in a closed-door meeting with about 20 lobbyists for employer groups and the insurance industry, and recounted to Dow Jones by people in the meeting.
According to participants, Selib said public statements by Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, are undermining the bipartisan talks. He told lobbyists that if the group does not strike an agreement by next week, the result could be that Democratic leaders will abandon the bipartisan talks and pass a Democrat-written bill through the Senate.