Liberals in Congress FINALLY Push Back on Public Option
Maybe Obama was just testing the waters when he and Kathleen Sebelius both indicated over the weekend that the public option could be expendable. Because the reaction by liberal members of Congress has been swift and firm. Greg Sargent is reporting that “(t)he debate over the public option has suddenly reminded us that there are in fact two houses of Congress, something that’s been easy to forget amid the media obsession with the “bipartisan” negotiations in the Senate.” Sixty House liberals sent a letter to Kathleen Sebelius which stated in part:
We stand in strong opposition to your statement that the public option is “not the essential element” of comprehensive reform. The opportunity to improve access to healthcare is a onetime opportunity. Americans deserve reform that is real-not smoke and mirrors. We cannot rely solely on the insurance companies’ good faith efforts to provide for our constituents. A robust public option is essential, if we are to ensure that all Americans can receive healthcare that is accessible, guaranteed and of high-quality.
To take the public option off the table would be a grave error; passage in the House of Representatives depends upon inclusion of it.
We have attached, for your review, a letter from 60 Members of Congress who are firm in their Position that any legislation that moves forward through both chambers, and into a final proposal for the President’s signature, MUST contain a public option.
MUST contain a public option. The emphasis was theirs, not mine.
It’s also becoming increasingly clear that the efforts of the Senate Finance Committee to create some sort of bi-partisan consensus bill are a huge waste of time. First of all Mealy mouthed hypocrite, Sen. Chuck Grassley, now reveals that he most likely won’t even vote for whatever bill is eventually excreted from the Committee.
Grassley, the senior Republican on Finance, alarmed liberals when he announced in a television interview Monday that he would not support healthcare legislation that does not have widespread Republican support.
“I’m negotiating for Republicans and if I can’t negotiate something that gets more than four Republicans, I’m not a good representative of my party,” he said on MSNBC. “It isn’t a good deal if I can’t sell my product to more Republicans.”
But no Republican in the Senate has voiced support for the core healthcare reform policies pushed by Democrats. The only members of the GOP who have shown tentative public interest are Grassley and Sens. Mike Enzi (Wyo.) and Olympia Snowe (Maine), who have spent untold hours negotiating with Baucus in the past month. Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R), who often votes with Snowe, is also considered among the most likely Republican votes.
WTF? Everyone’s dancing around Baucus and Grassley because they’re going to produce the *perfect* health care reform bill and Grassley says he probably won’t even vote for it?
Furthermore, the Repubs have now made it clear, in a news release on their website, that if the public plan gets dumped from a bill in favor of the co-op plan, whatever the heck that may even be, they will now come out against it as also being “Government Run Health Care”. And this despite having earlier supported the idea of a co-op as not being a government run plan.
Lines in the sand have now been drawn. Liberals in Congress. Any plan MUST contain a public option. Republicans in general. ANY attempt at health care reform is socialized medicine and we will fight it tooth and nail no matter what you call it.
And I believe the Liberals are serious. As Anna Eshoo (D-CA) told Politico:
“I think it would be very tough,” said Eshoo. “There are those who view themselves as having already compromised on single-payer.”
Yes. For many Liberals in Congress, a public option WAS the compromise. For Obama to ask them to take that down even more is just making them angry. And especially when the Republicans are signaling unequivocally that they will fight anything that is proposed.
Looks like the White House better get to work on the Senate. Because it seems to me that convincing a few Senators to vote the party line has got to be a lot easier than overturning 60+ Representatives. Obama does not want to see his signature piece of legislation go down in flames. And, as I’ve said before, neither do I! Health care/insurance reform is badly, badly needed in this country and long overdue. I noted the other day in a comments thread that either a public plan or a well devised co-op would constitute significant reform and, at the time, thought a co-op would be easier to get through. Since the Repubs have put the lie to that idea and the Congressional Liberals have decided to stand up and fight for the public plan, then I think we need to go for it and settle for nothing less!
If you want to send your Congresspeople a piece of change for sticking up for the Public Option, ActBlue.com has been set up to collect donations. And it can’t hurt to apply pressure to the recalcitrant Dems in the Senate too.
Posted by marindenver on 08/18/09 at 04:07 PM • Permalink
Categories: Politics • Barack Obama • Editorials • Health Care • Nutters • Our Stupid Media • Skull Hampers •
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