Max Baucus released his version of the reform bill for universal health care today. Among they many lovely qualities of this watered down, compromise-laden bill:
[ul]
[li]No public option[/li][li]Mandate with high fines[/li][li]Many Democratic senators have expressed concerns that this bill doesn’t make health care affordable enough to to many Americans[/li][/ul]
Baucus has justified the elements (lack of public option, etc.) of this bill by appealing to bipartisanship. However, Republicans have come out against this bill - including Olympia Snowe, a key moderate Republican whose support may be necessary. Currently, (so far as I know) there are not any Republicans on record as supporting this bill.
Bipartisanship, which has been a driving factor in extending the debate process and foregoing elements more favorable to left-leaning Democrats, now seems to be completely off the table for even this watered down bill. Change almost any part of this bill to make it more palatable to Republicans, and it can hardly be called a “reform” bill anymore.
Where should the more progressive Democrats go for here? Push for reconciliation?
Bipartisanship is not necessary. Neither is reconcilliation. The Dems can do it all by themselves but they are running scared of a bill that only the Dems support. The watered down version is an attempt to get the nervous dems back on board.
The insurance lobby got their money’s worth out of their payments to Baucus. If the concessions made did not secure any Republican votes, screw them. Draft the most liberal bill you can that would gather 51 votes in reconciliation, ram it through the Senate, the House will follow and declare victory. Then when people see the good the bill does, Dems get all the credit.
Call the whole “bipartisanship” thing off and get the bill done to the satisfaction of the Democrats. Go for reconciliation if the Democrats can’t unite entirely behind it.
The Republicans will never, ever get behind a bill. They only want to kill it. Senator DeMint made it clear when he proclaimed that health care was Obama’s “Waterloo” and where the Republicans could “break him”. Listen to how they poison the well with accusations of death panels and illegal immigrants stealing your health care and medical rationing and doctors leaving the country and Medicare being robbed, etc.
Do you think these guys are going to go back to their base and say “Yeah, about all that… we’ve decided we can support a bill after all.” Of course not. They’re not going to try to explain to a bunch of Tea Party sign-wavers how this bill won’t have death panels and illegals covered and rationing and all the rest of it. They’ve engaged on a slash & burn campaign which has only one outcome for them – kill health care reform dead and call it victory.
Fuck 'em and fuck bipartisanship. It was a waste of time to spend this much effort on it but at least we have all the evidence we could want to know it’s true.
I think most of them are, as long as there’s a public option. As the bill stands now, the mandates have far too much potential to let the insurance companies hold people hostage. There are provisions in the bill to forbid private insurers from excluding coverage for pre-existing conditions and from rescinding coverage, but, considering the obscene amount of money politicians receive from health care lobbyists, I’m skeptical that these would really have the bite to back up the bark.
Anyone see a chance that any of the more moderate Repos will see the writing on the wall and cross the line at the last minute? Or is it pretty much a given that they all feel like united we stand, divided we fall?
According to this there are two Reps on the fence that might be persuaded.
Looks like the Dems don’t need to win too many votes to go for reconciliation.
I say fuck it…write the bill as it should be done (public option) then do some serious arm twisting on the few holdouts.
If this does not get done now, with this Congress, I am not sure it can ever get done. At least not till the horror of health care costs has screwed the country into an impossible hole and everyone starts squealing but that is too late by far.
Amen, and preach it loud, brother. I don’t understand why bipartisanship is still such a Holy Grail for Obama. GET IT DONE. Act the way the Republicans acted for 6 years when they controlled the Senate, the House, and the White House.
The “more progressive Democrats” should wise up, and move to the right. Extreme liberal agendas are simply not going to fly. Pretending otherwise is self delusion.
Judging from the reaction today from the Senate GOP, compromise agendas wont fly either so why bother? The GOP doesn’t want compromise, they just want to say they won. They’ve set themselves up so that the only “victory” they can claim and take back to their base would be an unqualified one where they get everything and Obama gets nothing, i.e. completely sinking any chance at health care reform.
This is a sign that the Democrats need to ram through the most liberal bill possible with 51 votes. I see no reason to make concessions to the other side if they aren’t interested in negotiations. You have to give to get. The Dems have been giving and giving and giving, but receiving nothing in return
The cynical part of me suspects these “bipartisan talks” were nothing more than an excuse to stall the bill so that the insurance industry could have more time to kill it.
Baucus has been supported by the health care to the tune of about 3 million dollars. The dems that act like republicans are a problem. This could be an important moment in history. But the greedy little bastards we elect are thinking of themselves and money.It could be an earthshaking move that would make the dems a majority for a long time. But I fear they will let it go over petty politics. I weep for our country.
When Baucus speaks of bi-partisanship in regards to the bill reported out of his committee, he is most likely speaking specifically about his committee: the draft was produced by a six member team comprising three from each party,
Once it is out of committee, other political forces will probably lead to the three Republicans distancing themselves from the bill.
Extreme right agendas were passed during Bush. Wise up, the dems could pass this thing without help. They allow the repubs to infect every damn bill in the name of fair play, then the repubs vote as a group against it. It is past time treating them we respect. They are fighting every move the Dems make on a partisan basis.
