The Senate Finance Committee this morning is beginning the
process of marking up, or writing, its version of health care
legislation, using the proposal by Chairman Max Baucus as a
starting point. Originally, this was supposed to happen in
mid-June when Democrats were hoping to pass a bill before August
recess. But after word got out that the Congressional Budget
Office would slap the initial proposal with a $1.6 trillion price
tag, Baucus spent three months stripping down the cost of the
bill in negotiations with five other members of the committeee,
including three Republicans.
Given that it's the first day of markup, Senators are making
opening statements, before they formally start debating and
voting on all of the ammendments. Earlier this morning, all eyes
were on Olympia Snowe, the only remaining Republican at this
point who could potentially vote for the bill. During her
statement she argued that the legislation shouldn't be rushed
because they needed time to get it right, and expressed several
concerns -- over affordability, the high penalty for those who do
not obtain insurance, and the overall cost of the legislation.
The problem is that two of her positions are contradictory. The
biggest cost in the health care bill is the subsidies provided to
individuals to purchase insurance -- if you want to increase the
subsidies, then it means you're advocating a more costly piece of
legislation rather than a less costly one.
As the process moves forward, Baucus is in a tight spot. He needs
to do more to win over liberals who are upset about the lack of a
government plan and believe the subsidies are too weak, while
wooing moderates who are concerned about the cost. In a New
York Times
interview, Baucus said that a potential compromise exists
around the "trigger," supported by Snowe, that would allow for
the creation of a government plan if the new system doesn't meet
certain targets. Thus far, liberals have rejected that idea. Even
if the Baucus bill emerges from committee, it still has to be
patched together with the more liberal legislation that has
already passed the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Committee. The HELP bill is far more costly, has more generous
subsidies and includes a government-run plan. And even if the two
Senate committees reach an agreement and manage to get a bill
through the Senate, it would still have to be combined with
whatever comes out of the House. So, there's still a long way to
go. And as Jon Kyl noted during his remarks, it's difficult for
Senators to make concessions when they don't know whether those
agreements will be hornored further along in the process.
