Rep. Louise Slaughter, chairwoman of the House Rules Committee,
has
declared that the Senate bill does not represent real reform
and cannot be reconciled with the version that passed the House
of Representatives. Instead, she recommended killing the Senate
bill and starting all over.
"The Senate health care bill is not worthy of the historic vote
that the House took a month ago," Slaughter wrote in an opinion
piece appearing on CNN's website today.
She complained that without the presence of a public option, the
bill won't lower costs and would represent a subsidy to private
insurance.
"Although the art of legislating involves compromise, I believe
the Senate went off the rails when it agreed with the Obama
Administration to water down the reform bill and no longer
include the public option," she wrote.
She also complained that the bill would allow insurers to charge
higher premiums to older people and does not repeal the antitrust
exemption enjoyed by insurers.
She concludes:
Supporters of the weak Senate bill say "just pass it -- any
bill is better than no bill."
I strongly disagree -- a conference report is unlikely to
sufficiently bridge the gap between these two very different
bills.
It's time that we draw the line on this weak bill and ask the
Senate to go back to the drawing board. The American people
deserve at least that.
The statement is a headache for Democratic leadership at a time
when they are on the verge of passing a bill in the Senate. In
the first go around, the House bill passed by a narrow 220 to 215
vote, so Speaker Nancy Pelosi only has three votes to spare. The
absence of the Stupak abortion language is already going to cost
her some votes among pro-life Democrats (as well as the lone
Republican to vote for it, Joseph Cao), so any votes she loses on
the left would have to be made up elsewhere. Any compromise to
attract liberal members of the House could upset the delicate
balance that achieved 60 votes in the Senate. On the other hand
Rep. Jason Altmir, a Democrat who voted against the bill the
first time, said "a lot" of Blue Dog Democrats could support
something along the lines of the Senate bill this time
around.
Via
the Hill.
