Democratic leaders introduced a "discussion draft" of a health care proposal, which the chairmen of the three committees with jurisdiction over health care policy developed over the past several months.

Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (N.Y.), Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (Calif.) and Chairman Emeritus John Dingell (Mich.), and Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (Calif.) announced the plan in a joint press conference this afternoon.

They said it was consistent with President Obama's goals -- building on the existing system -- while providing coverage for more Americans than any other proposal.

"This proposal would improve the affordability, availability, and quality of health care and represents a major step toward the our goal of fixing what is broken about health care while building on what works," Obama said in a released statement.

According to the bill's text, its purpose is "to provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending." It would also "guarantee that almost every American is covered by a health care plan that is both affordable and offers quality, standard benefits by 2019," according to a Miller press release.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele released a statement just minutes after the Democrats' press conference began. "The Democrats don't want to admit it, but their health care tax-fest will include higher taxes on Medicare, soft drinks, alcohol, employers -- even a new national sales tax," Steele said. "All of this despite the president's promise to voters during the campaign that he would not raise taxes on 95% of taxpayers and would make health care cost less."

Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the proposal a "historic and a critical step forward in meeting our commitment to the American people: to deliver an American solution for quality affordable health care."