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Political Hay
Now Comes the Hard Part
The Finance Committee approved its version of health care legislation three months later than expected, but the sense of victory could be short-lived.
(Page 2 of 2)
In a potentially more worrisome development for Democrats, Sen. Joe Lieberman revealed on Tuesday that he couldn’t even support the Finance Committee legislation as it was, because he was “afraid that in the end, the Baucus bill is actually going to raise the price of insurance for most of the people in the country.”
And none of this even takes into account the fact that even if Reid can come up with a formula to attract the support of 60 Senators needed to block any filibuster, any bill still has to secure passage in the House.
By creating a bill that passed muster with the Congressional Budget Office and attracted the support of a Republican, the Finance Committee emboldens Blue Dog Democrats in the House to oppose a more costly bill that includes a government plan. Meanwhile, House liberals still maintain that they will not support a bill that does not include a government plan modeled after Medicare.
“While I applaud the Finance Committee for completing its work on the bill, I remain concerned that it does not include a robust public option,” Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, co-chairman of the 80-member House Progessive Caucus, said in a statement via email. “I remain committed to getting the best bill in the House that we can get so that we have a strong negotiating position in conference. Today’s Senate action does not reflect the country’s high approval ratings for a public option, and I believe that any meaningful health care reform must include that vital element to increase access and bring down costs.”
While on Tuesday the media was eager to declare the Finance Committee vote a momentum shift in the health care debate, the sense of victory may prove short-lived.
About the Author
Philip Klein is The American Spectator’s Washington correspondent. You can follow him on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/Philipaklein
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Lullaby's, Legends and Lies| 10.14.09 @ 6:53AM
"My vote today is my vote today," she said. "It doesn't forecast what my vote will be tomorrow."
Very true but, a vote for the Senator from Maine, in the last election, doesn’t forecast what a vote will be for the next Senator from Maine, in the next election (2012).
Although, after receiving almost 75% of her States votes in the last election, I don’t think she’s very worried about losing her job anytime soon.
I just hope she’s a Republican, in more than name only. To thyself be true.
Joe| 10.14.09 @ 9:58AM
Snowe was elected to represent the people of Maine, not to worry about her place in history.
Voting to preserve "integrity" in Congress is equivalent to "f**king to preserve virginity" in a whorehouse.
R Stevens| 10.14.09 @ 7:40AM
This abomination can still be stopped. The only way is to make it absolutely clear to our representatives that THEY WILL BE VOTED OUT OF OFFICE IF THEY SUPPORT IT. There is a website where you can pledge to vote against politicians supporting the bill. Representatives will then be informed of how many votes they are losing. It is called www.PledgeOfLiberty.com
Ted| 10.14.09 @ 9:24AM
I did not realize that liberty is defined as helping insurance companies become rich and their executives filthy rich.
Timothy A. Jumonville| 10.14.09 @ 10:16AM
Sir,
Liberty is my right to choose. It also includes my right to change my choice if I determine that my original choice was in error. My choice is for my benefit and mine alone. Get Government out of my way and I will take care of myself.
Mindful| 10.14.09 @ 11:03AM
Sir, sorry, but I think there is no place on this planet where you can live without Government being "in your way", and hasn't been any such place since we were all hunters and gatherers. Just FYI. Perhaps you could try another planet?
Alan Brooks| 10.14.09 @ 6:13PM
This will lead eventually, 30 years, to biotech's paramount importance. You-- or at least your kids-- will live longer lives, but what sort of lives?
I don't want to think about it.
If the ugliness of today is any guide, the future will be horrifying.
Oldefarte| 10.14.09 @ 12:43PM
THANK YOU very much for providing this critical information/source. I strongly urge EVERYONE here on AS's blog to sign up/vote and register on this website. Also, if Mr./Ms. R. Stevens or anyone knows of any other such websites that accumulates names/email addresses of voters [especially those that could be sent to any/all senators/representatives in ALL STATES, please so notify us of same. THIS sort of thing is the only way possible [in my opinion] to STOP THIS MADNESS that is occurring in DC currently. Thanks again to R. Stevens for providing this information!!!!
martin j smith| 10.14.09 @ 7:53AM
Here is my theory ( actually two of them ) about OS.
First she votes purely on local political bases. I do not know Maine's politics but that is one guess. Seeond is that is the Republican Party's sacrificial lamb so to speak to make it appear that Republican Party is not obstructionist.( yes I think the Mainstream Republican leaders fear this--though I think it is misguided ). Bottom line--the thing would have passed 13-10 anyway. But I think it is not only OS that gets a message of strong disapproval but the Republican Party leadership.
Melvin| 10.14.09 @ 8:15AM
Newt said one thing that made perfect sense. We are dealing with an ideology here from former Hippies who are now in positions of political power and never held a job in their lives other than political office.
Waxman, Boxer, Feinstein, Pelosi, Reid and many others are willing to sacrifice their Party in terms of House and Senate seats to have socialized health care. Because when the smoke clears, and the bodies are carted off from this battle and the Democrats may have lost many seats in the Senate and House, there is one thing that will remain and that is socialized health care.
The Democrats know one thing that the voters have very short memories and they will again regain the majority and they will have their beloved government run health care running on
auto-pilot, humming blissfully along with all it's inefficiency, silently waiting for their return.
Pingback| 10.14.09 @ 8:26AM
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 « links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Red Phillips | 10.14.09 @ 8:37AM
Snowe desperately needs a primary opponent! All this bashing of RINOs is just talk unless some people step up to the plate and challenge them.
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.14.09 @ 8:41AM
Melvin
Voters do have short memories...except when they are unemployed...and even hungry.
The "small business" community, (up to 100 employees each?) is the job generator in this country, and we are not forgetful.
Military veterans do not have short memories, just as we must not forget their service.
I personally think that things will get very bad during the next year for every productive type person in the country...and did you note the 65 thousand non productive type people showing up in Detroit where only 3,500 applications even printed?
As out T.E.A.M. AMERICA Logo states: The sleeping giant is awake...and angry.
I honestly believe we can FIRE a hundred or so congress critters in 2010, and repeal the whole mess.
We can do it! http://judgeroy.wordpress.com
PolishKnight| 10.14.09 @ 10:04AM
I have several friends who are raging liberals and it's clear in their thinking that what motivates them to drink the cool aid is the belief that the fabian ratchet makes them pioneers. Better to be on a winning team, even one where you're thrown under the bus to "take one for the team", then an outsider. I've known many of them since high school and, come to think of it, that was how they WERE during high school. If the popular kids smoke and drank, they did it too whether they liked it or not. It's funny because liberalism potrays itself as the party of individualism when it's the biggest cult since, well, I won't blaspheme but you can guess.
Moving forward, assuming the Dems pass some kind of bill to save face even if it's a dog that doesn't give ANYONE what they want, this may turn out to be an opportunity of crisis for Republicans to propose something to fix the problem of medicaid that has hung over the taxpayers' heads for some time along with other pandora's boxes. Sadly, too many of them are either naive or in bed with the Dems in Georgetown to take advantage of them...
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.14.09 @ 8:45AM
OH!
One other thought: If the right congress critters can't get a presidential signature, they can still cut the funding for this whole mess.
See, the Obamites keep forgetting one thing. 40 million American voters sat out the last election.
Howard| 10.14.09 @ 9:06AM
Now is the time for the GOP to try to sell market-based innovative options for real reform. Even though they will be defeated by the Democrats, it will set the stage for future victories. Just as Reagan pushed hard in the mid-late 1970's with conservative ideas that were fairly unpopular; it set the stage for his election in 1980, as well as a generation of solid conservative changes.
ted| 10.14.09 @ 9:27AM
Ah those wonderful reforms that in the fullness of time led to greedy speculators destroying the economy in 2008 ... the market has no morals, the market doesn't give a damn about anyone ... the invisible hand of the market raised its middle finger to the country in 2008 and now you want more of the same? Dream on, oh dream on ...
sking| 10.14.09 @ 12:37PM
Well, Ted, sir, What is your solution? More and more Nanny state ideas? I'm sorry this whole economic fiasco we are currently experiencing has government's hands all over it. What will pull us out are the entrepreneurs, the people who find a way to succeed. Not the whiners who cry about how unfair life is and look to a bureaucracy to right the wrongs. It was those wonderful reforms that have risen every Americans standard of living in the last two hundred years.
Are you greedy or do you work out of the kindness of your heart? Who pays for your clothing, food, home? If you answered yourself, well it seems your acting in your own self-interest. You dirty capitalist pig!
cheers.
DM| 10.14.09 @ 12:38PM
The free market did not cause the bubble. Democrat sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did by giving loans to people who cant pay for them with government backing under the guise of home ownership for all.
jeff l | 10.15.09 @ 1:41AM
DM,
Well said!
John D. Froelich| 10.14.09 @ 9:16AM
The of the biggest errors in the Baucus Bill is enforcing the employer mandate based on a company's SIZE. This might hit a nearly bankrupt firm very hard, while allowing a small but extremely profitable one to skate by.
Brian| 10.14.09 @ 9:17AM
The Republican platform need include only one stipulation - overturning everything Obama and the Democrat Congress has foisted on this country.
The 2004 status quo would be a vast improvement over the nonense Democrats have "accomplished".
Skep41 | 10.14.09 @ 9:38AM
She doesnt get it. None of those Washington idiots do. Any bill they pass, regardless of what the CBO says, is going to plunge this entire country into disaster. There are enough taxes, price controls and idiotic regulations to totally destroy private medicine in the 'moderate' Baucus Bill which is in now way going to stay 'moderate' once Nutsy Pelosi and Harry 'Uriah Heep' Reid get their socialist hands on it. This whole deal is a lie and a swindle from start to finish. But then the Democrats are a lie and a swindle from start to finish and dopes like Olympia just havent caught on.
Skep41 | 10.14.09 @ 9:45AM
"Ah those wonderful reforms that in the fullness of time led to greedy speculators destroying the economy in 2008..."
The 'reforms' you liberals should focus on are the ones that forced banks to drop the requirement for a down payment on a mortgage loan and allowed people with bad credit and low income to get loans they never were going to pay back. The rules inposed by creeps like Barney Frank, BJ Clinton and Chris 'Countrywide' Dodd in the name of equity. The greediest most dishonest 'speculators' were all in the government. This is a government crisis...one that continues to this day as moronic leftists blame the private sector and pass more stupid, destructive 'reforms'.
Becky| 10.14.09 @ 10:13AM
Does anyone seriously think the President will keep his promise not to sign a bill that adds to the deficit?
Surely he is being given too much credit for meaning what he says and saying what he means.
What do you think he has Gibbs for? He is the official arbitor of what anyone says or thinks in this administration. It is all about what is is.
Louis Jenkins| 10.14.09 @ 10:22AM
Oh it is just so wonderful that Olympia Snowe reached across the aisle to bring bi-partisan politics to the floor of the Senate!! She is the only Republican who extends the hand of compromise. (Or so the morning national news wants you to believe.) What a fine person she is!
Basically, Snowe is the only Republican who is medication compliant in this issue. Far better if she would take her twice daily can of whoop arse and cowboy up for the struggle between socialism and freedom. Better yet, if the conservative people of Maine would wake up and cast out this RINO. Blue Dog Democrats who may vote against this bill are in good with their folks back home, but not with their party. Which do you think will carry the most weight. (Dare we say the party?) They will fall right in line and step. Our government does not care about who foots the tax bill for pie in the sky programs, and the bigger the bill the better. Step right up slaves, here’s your monthly ration of corn pone and fatback. Your government is so kind.
martin j smith| 10.14.09 @ 10:33AM
As for Snowe--she symbolizes what is wrong with the Republican Leadership ( or lack of ). In the end when the S hits the F --and I think sadly it will take this --memories will awaken. People do not react until conditons on the ground are intolerable enough for them to see the light. That is human nature. And --as I say I think they will.
Pingback| 10.14.09 @ 10:36AM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : Now Comes the Hard Part [spectator.o links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Jake Libertarian| 10.14.09 @ 11:17AM
Look, if anything, Olympia Snowe's vote for the Baucaus Bill just made life infinitely worse for the Dems than any damage it may have caused for anyone else. The Dem party is not a monolithic structure, it is fractured into many Caucases, each with their own agenda and support base; Progressives, CBC, Blue Dogs, & 2 Independents (sort of). A majority of Americans want Health Care Reform, but a majority also oppose the public option. Very few of our Senators & Representatives are actually listening to their constituents, but instead are listening to their lobbyists, PACs, and fundraisers. That goes for DEMs AND GOP alike. In the end, I do not want this bill, or any of the other bills that have come out of committee, but we have to do something about Health Care costs. My only hope now is that this continuing debate energizes middle class America to the point that they start tossing their "me, me, me" Representatives & Senators out of office, and that we start getting real representation back in DC. Now THAT'S "Change I can Believe In".
May Flower| 10.14.09 @ 1:21PM
Snowe. What a pathetic dribbling loser. Why doesn't she just switch parties.
Well the hijacking of healthcare by barrakk and his other fellow communists is behind closed doors. like 1-2-3 these commies will be out of office starting in 2009. By the way, please don't vote for an independent if you like the republican 2nd best, otherwise another ross perot will occur and you will in-effect elect the democrat communist like Corzine.
Louis Jenkins| 10.14.09 @ 3:59PM
I have plenty of boots thank you and I'd like to wear them out on the hiney of some politicians!!
Pingback| 10.14.09 @ 2:13PM
They Say You Can't Fight the Future, But Maybe It Can Fight You? - Hit & Run : Reason links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
JCIll| 10.14.09 @ 2:20PM
I don't think we should worry about Olympia. She supported this bill because it was the best thing out there. When the compromise bill with the government-run disaster shows up on the Senate floor, she will do the right thing and reject it.
Pingback| 10.14.09 @ 3:18PM
The HSA Coalition » 30 Unions Launch Ad Campaign to Kill Tax in Senate Finance Health links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 10.14.09 @ 4:31PM
Political Wisdom: Should Joe Biden Resign? - Capital Journal - WSJ links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Shamus| 10.14.09 @ 4:33PM
The odds of having no bill passed have been rated at only 5% by pundits, but I wonder whether they aren't actually much higher. There seem to be quite a few serious problems. One is that the bill takes years to go into effect but taxes are imposed right away. This will cause economic damage while leaving people uninsured, causing the public to think the policy has failed and inspiring demands to repeal it.
jeff l | 10.15.09 @ 1:45AM
Additionally, the reason for the long sessions trying to put this togather is that they are trying to figure out how to put a good spin on 2 million medical insurance workers landing on the unemployment roles and increasing the unemployment rate a couple of points, 40% of doctors retiring (recent poll) if the bill is passed due to a lowered income and a greater number of patients, increased taxes on most of their constituants, healthcare rationing and 20 million people still not covered under the new bills. Whats the rush, except to beat the two November govonors elections that may both go Repub and scare waffling Dems into not voting for the bill. Kind of like they shot themselves in both feet and are still trying to figure out what to do with the four remaining shots left in their revolver.
Robert Rosencrans| 10.14.09 @ 4:36PM
The U.S. Congress has become the American equivalent of the Russian mafia, shaking down one industry after another with threatened legislation, then delaying action while they collect millions in fear money.
Viki W| 10.14.09 @ 8:09PM
I'm a Mainer and while I support Olympia in some ways, this is a mistake. I think she did in part to see that Dirigo Health (Maine's COMPLETE AND UTTER disaster of a public plan) is shored up, despite the fact that it is massively unpopular here...except with the Legislature, our inept liberal democrat rulers.
Pingback| 10.31.09 @ 8:07PM
What Works The Best To Quit Smoking Permanently? | Smoking Health Wisdom links to this page. Here’s an excerpt: