Federal health costs, which the Congressional Budget Office projects will reach about 10 percent of GDP in 2035, would also hit that level under the BPC and EPI plans.

FORBES: Areas Of Agreement On Tackling The Budget Deficit

It is, however, believed to include some role for the federal Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan, the group of private health insurance plans that covers some 9 million federal workers and their dependents.

NPR: Senators Announce Tentative Deal On Public Option

Another idea is for the Office of Personnel Management, which manages the health plans of federal employees, to offer health insurance through a network of private, not-for-profit insurers.

ECONOMIST: Health-care reform

Democratic sources said the Senate deal reached Tuesday night includes proposals to replace the public option by creating a not-for-profit private insurance option overseen by the Office of Personnel Management, much like the current health plan for federal workers, along with the Medicare expansion.

CNN: Pelosi asks to see better way than public option

The plan supported by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders rejects virtually all of these reforms and places blind faith in a massive new government bureaucracy that the Congressional Budget Office warns will drive health care costs -- not to mention the federal debt we'll pass along to future generations -- higher than ever.

CNN: Commentary: Health bill could handicap small businesses

He also served under President Nixon as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and director of the Office of Management and Budget, and then secretary of health, education and welfare.

FORBES: Caspar Weinberger Dies At 88

The SBA's Office of Advocacy monitors federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Department of Commerce and the Securities and Exchange Commission--in accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980--to make sure they aren't creating new rules that place a disproportionate burden on small businesses.

FORBES: Whither Bush's Small-Biz Budget?