Grassley urges scaling back on healthcare reform effort

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, a key Republican negotiator in bipartisan healthcare reform, said that the outpouring of anger at town hall meetings has fundamentally altered the nature of the debate and convinced him that lawmakers should consider drastically scaling back the scope of the effort. After being besieged by protesters at meetings across his home state of Iowa, Grassley said he has concluded that the public has rejected the far-reaching proposals Democrats have put on the table, viewing them as overly expensive precursors to "a government takeover of healthcare."