…And it would appear that Senator Baucus’ health care bill is DOA everywhere but inside the beltway Washington and at old media corporate operations…
Senator Claire McCaskill (D) joins up with the few, the proud, the obstructionist:
September 17, 2009
SENATORS NELSON, SNOWE, LIEBERMAN, MCCASKILL COMMEND CHAIRMAN BAUCUS ON HEALTH CARE PROPOSAL
WASHINGTON, D.C. -Today, a bipartisan group of senators issued this joint statement about “The America’s Healthy Future Act” proposal for health care reform released by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana:
“We commend Chairman Baucus for his efforts to forge a health care reform proposal that has the potential to gain broad bipartisan support. We are encouraged by his commitment to work with both Democrats and Republicans in the Finance Committee, and believe there is a responsibility for both sides of the aisle to work together to develop a bill that will earn strong support from the full Senate.
“Despite the differences that have emerged in this health care debate, there is much that we all agree on, including insurance market reforms that bar insurance companies from discriminating against people based on their health status or denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions. We also agree on prevention and wellness investments, critical delivery reforms like paying for quality rather than quantity, increasing access to care by improving health care provider training programs, and reducing uncompensated care by extending tax credits to American families to help pay for their health care coverage.
“Each of us has an obligation to put aside partisan views and to consider how health care reform addresses the needs and challenges faced by individual citizens and our economy as a whole. While we each have outstanding concerns we wish to see addressed, Senator Baucus has taken an important and critical step forward with this legislation, which is budget neutral and reduces future health care costs according to CBO. We will continue to work together in the full Senate on bipartisan health care reform that reduces costs, improves care, and expands access.”
Ben Nelson Olympia J. Snowe
United States Senator, Nebraska United States Senator, MaineJoseph I. Lieberman Claire McCaskill
United States Senator, Connecticut United States Senator, Missouri
Olympia Snowe likes the Baucus bill? That’s news:
Snowe falls away, leaving Senate Dems without GOP support on healthcare
By Alexander Bolton and Jeffrey Young – 09/15/09 08:10 PM ETSenate Democrats are going to have to move forward on healthcare without a single Republican supporter after Sen. Olympia Snowe said Tuesday she could not back the Finance Committee’s bill….
Yep, that’s inside the beltway Washington’s way of doing business. Thanks for playing their game and thanks for nothing, Claire.
What color is the sky in their world? Here’s the one the rest of us live in:
When Faced With A Parliament, Act Like A Parliament
…The truth is that one side acts like a Parliament while much of the other thinks we still live in the days of bipartisan consensus. Both parties have different visions of how to govern, and despite that giving Villagers the willies, it’s OK and expected. But if you have one side bending over backwards to work together, and the other side unyielding, the debate necessarily tips in favor of that unyielding side, as a matter of basic physics…
We’ve already compromised with the republicans:
No Snowe in the healthcare reform forecast
….So I have a question. Since we are doing it without the heartless, soulless fiends that make up the GOP circa 2009 anyway – why not go balls to the wall and rewrite the legislation to pass a single payer plan? And when they start wailing about how it’s unfair, we can remind them that they had a seat at the grown-ups table for months on end and they chose to throw their food and break the dishes and stab the adults with their fork.
When they can exhibit some grown-up behavior, we’ll consider talking to them again.
But for now, since they can’t, we should do what parents do for kids all the time – make decisions and act on them, in the best interest of the entire family (in this case the family is the American citizenry) and let the kids wail about it all they want. Competent adults know how to handle temper tantrums. Let them scream until they wear themselves out, and if that fails, a glass of cold water in the face – in this case, the threat of single payer – never fails to stop the screaming.
The republicans won’t compromise? That makes it easy. Medicare for everyone.
Update:
Senator Claire McCaskill issued the following statement:
My continuing to work for bipartisanship should not signal that I am not firmly committed to health care reform this year. The cost of doing nothing is too great and I will work with any and all of my colleagues to make it happen.
That’d be all well and good – if republicans weren’t so intent on doing nothing:
…Senator DeMint said this, I’m gonna quote what he said, “If we’re able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo.” Well I don’t think this debate should be about President Obama. [applause] [cheers] It should be, it should be about the people who are going bankrupt because of the cost of health care, [applause] even when they have insurance. [applause]…