After Quelling Progressive Rebellion, House Health Care Mark-Up Continues This Morning
After several derailings, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is once again on track to mark up health care legislation, and should resume deliberations this morning.
After brokering a deal with Blue Dog Democrats yesterday, chairman Henry Waxman thought he'd cleared the last big pre-recess hurdle standing in the way of a committee vote on health care legislation. He expected to resume mark up yesterday afternoon en route to a Friday passage. But then, House progressives--reluctant to further weaken the public option, but, moreover, displeased with leadership's solicitousness of conservative Democrats--threw another obstacle in the way, and threatened to block the bill once more. Addressing those objections proved challenging for House leaders, and led Waxman to (again) delay proceedings.
But last night there was yet another breakthrough, as House progressives agreed, reluctantly, to let the bill move forward. They note that there remains plenty of opposition among House progressives, and are still holding out the possibility of opposing the final legislation. But for now it looks like the committee will wrap things up before recess and a final bill will be put together for a likely floor vote in September.
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
This is the best outcome, I think. The progressives fired a warning shot over the bow, which the leadership heard loud and clear, but then allowed the process to proceed.
July 30, 2009 9:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Grassley & Enzi poured cold water on the Finance committee. They said they're not close and won't be done before the break.
Baucus is being played. These guys aren't interested in a deal. They are going to delay and delay and delay until it totally falls apart. Everybody knows that, except Baucus. In fact, I think he knows that and is trying to enable them.
What a loser.
July 30, 2009 9:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Baucus should now know his work those republicans is useless. He should be negotiating with the entire Dem. caucus in the Senate and forget about those republicans
July 30, 2009 9:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
He is either being played like a fool or he is willingly enabling fools, which makes him an even bigger fool. Hopefully he gets voted out of chairmanshipp soon enough.
July 30, 2009 9:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
You can't get voted out of chairmanship. It's based on seniority and that shitty ass senator has been there since 1978.
It's Byrd, Kennedy, Inouye, Leahy and Baucus. Shame, ain't it?
July 30, 2009 10:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, there's no law saying the Party can't change the way it hands out chairmanships. The GOP has term limits, something we should consider at the very least. Better yet, put every chairmanship up for a secret ballot "vote of confidence" every year.
I doubt of course that the current Democratic leadership in the Senate has the stones to suggest such a measure, much less carry it through.
July 30, 2009 11:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
How many times do Grassley and Enzi have to play Baucus for the fool before somebody over there wakes up and kicks his butt?
One blogger (MCjoan@KOS????) recently compiled a list of Baucus action promises going back to last year....
Friedman Units now Baucus Units
July 30, 2009 11:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
So I'm not sure I'm even really bothered by the bill that Baucus is producing-- it's still not clear to me whether this is the result of Baucus' intransigence himself or just Baucus doing the best he could with an inhospitable committee. Even if we interpret Baucus's actions in the most charitable way it seems like he's been a really poor negotiator... but given what he had to work with, I'm not sure whether a better negotiator could have produced a substantially different bill. From my perspective he might even be doing us a favor by just getting SOME bill out, getting it over with, and moving the process on to the rest of the Congress.
...But for that to make any sense he has to produce a bill. And from what Grassley's saying, it sounds like Baucus may not even be able to do that.
July 30, 2009 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
This was good. The Progerssives just had to let it be known they weren't liking what they were seeing and when the three bills are coalesced we can get our robust public option.
July 30, 2009 9:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Baucus hasn't been played by the Repukes on his committee. He is a player with them. Baucus is and will not be for real reform. Just look at how fat his campaign fund has become. Baucus is doing the the work he wants; pandering to the health care industry while having blood on his hands!
July 30, 2009 9:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
So I am getting a very bad feeling about a public option that is becoming the darling of the insurance industry. Hey, what's not to like about it? Just sign on the dotted line. You are gonna love it, really!
July 30, 2009 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Dems threaten to oust Baucus.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dems-warn-baucus-with-gavel-threat-2009-07-29.html
July 30, 2009 10:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sadly it's an empty threat.
July 30, 2009 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yglesias on Lynn Woolsey's hissy fit
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/07/house-leadership-reaches-deal-with-blue-dogs-provokes-progressive-ire.php
July 30, 2009 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
It amazes me how the dumbocrat supporters never give up hope and despite their perferred party not being interested in the welfare of the masses, cannot force themselves to seek alternatives outside the two dominant political parties.
Granted it will be a slow and arduous process but honestly what alternative do the American people have? Both of the dominant parties are bought and paid for. They do not give a rat's ass what the majority of the people want. Face it and quit denying reality. There will be no meaningful healthcare reform or any other type of meaningful change under these corrupt parties.
There's no need to give up hope but place your hope and effort where it's well founded-start thinking outside the narrow box of dumbocrat/rethuglican.
July 30, 2009 11:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
This result was entirely predictable. The Blue Dogs refuse to get rolled; the leadership gives them what they want. It takes only a couple hours to roll the Progressive Caucus....and then they get praised by the Netroots for standing up for less than a day!
Anyone who thinks that real health care reform is likely to emerge from this process hasn't been paying attention.
July 30, 2009 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
mcconnell $3.3M, hatch $2.9M, pomeroy $2.9M, baucus $2.8M, grassley $2.8M, ensign $2.4M, burr $2.3M, cornyn $2.2M, conrad $2.1M, cantor $1.8M, boehner $1.6M, reid $1.5M was paid by the Medical Industrial Complex to kill Health Care Reform.
Follow the Money: Link
Call Congress and demand, Single-Payer Health Care for All Now!
Sign Single-Payer Petition: Link
SEMPER FI!
July 30, 2009 12:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
To the idiot calling us dumbacrats....WE WON THE WHITEHOUSE. The inbreds that make uf the Republican party have been getting their asses kicked by us since 2006. Care to retract your comments you moron?
July 30, 2009 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
By the way, I read on firedoglake a few minutes ago that the Progressives are holding a news conference at 2:30pm today with 50 signatures on a letter stating that if there is no strong public option, they will kill this bill in the House and they can do it. What do you say now? They could actually block a vote on the final bill when it comes to the Senate floor and the only way it could be defeated is if the Blue Dogs join the Republicans and filibuster. Somehow, I don't think they would have the guts of the stupidity to do this. For the Blue Dogs, it would be political suicide. They would look like traitors to the very people who voted for them because they claimed to be Democrats. Stay tuned!
July 30, 2009 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
right on!.
we need to support these Progressives and draw lines in the sand on all the issues.
i would rather nothing then giving in to the corrption that exists.
July 30, 2009 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
You guys really need to wake up.
Congress is doing exactly what it is supposed to do... the bidding of corporations who buy them.
Congress is doing what the campaign bribes are ordering them to do.
Congress does not give a rat's ass about you or me. They only care about more campaign bribes from the Health industry and Wall St. so they can stay in power. There are only a handful I would even want as my representative.
If the American public has to be sold out to stay in power, so be it.
Why do you even pay attention to Baucus other than to see him as the industry shill he is?
The Democrats have enough votes to do a lot of things. But just like war funding, Wall Street reform and Health care... big money orders the Democrats to do otherwise.
So the Democrats stall...
It's time to vote out both parties.
July 30, 2009 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Progressives need to be smart about this. Let's support the good parts of healthcare reform -- public option, no refusal of insurance for pre-existing conditions, etc. -- and at the same time, focus on eliminating those aspects of Obama's plan that are indeed hideous. Instead of eliminating the waste and fraud of the insurance companies and HMO's with single payer, the Administration proposes to cut costs by slashing Medicare reimbursement. A number of Obama's key advisors are off the deep end, such as Orszag and Ezekial Emmanuel, who advocate rationing care for the elderly based on how many "quality adjusted years" of life are projected to remain. They want to take decisions re Medicare reimbursement policy away from our elected representatives, and put these in the hands of an appointed board of bureaucrats, who will be mandated to cut costs. This is literally a life and death issue for millions of elderly, terminally ill, and disabled people. We need to build more hospitals and expand healthcare, not slash as Obama is proposing.
July 30, 2009 1:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh Bullshit! Obama is not trying to kill off old people! What stupid right wing lies and crap are you trying to spread here? No one is buying your shit-on-a-stick so go watch some more FoxNews OK.
July 30, 2009 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't be a moron. I did not say Obama is trying to kill off old people. I voted for the guy and campaigned for him, but that doesn't mean he's right on all this stuff. But you should know that he has some crazy advisors who advocate using an anti-human calculus to determine how medicare should best be cut. Ezekial Emanuel was appointed by Obama to the Federal Coordinating Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research, to begin the design of a Federal system for reducing Medicare payments. He wrote an article in the Jan 2009 Lancet, "Principles for Allocation of Scarce Medical Interventions," that advocates reducing care to elderly ill people. Read it. Obama's Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) has announced huge cuts to specialists. Physicians who read X-rays, CT and MRI scans will get a 30% cut Jan. 1, on top of a 23% cut they got five years ago. Radiation oncologists will get a 20% cut; impact on practices is estimated at an 18%-31% cut in revenue. Required utilization of imaging and therapeutic radiation machines would rise from 40%-50% at present, to 95%. This will force the shutdown of many centers, especially in rural and minority areas, and lead to vast increases in preventable cancer deaths in the US. Obama's CBO chief bean counter Orszag has insisted that the healthcare reform include an Independent Medicare Advisory Council (IMAC), which would be empowered to decide to make Medicare reimbursement cuts without Congressional approval. We need to expand Medicaid and Medicare, not cut them back, build new hospitals, not shut them down. Dump the HMO's and the insurance companies, and have single payer universal care.
July 30, 2009 3:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know there is a lot of waste in the system. Too many tests to just cover the doctors ass or with fee for service too many tests to fill the doctors bank accounts. When Obama went to Green Bay he was trying to emphasize that the practice of medicine there was what he wanted to be adopted everywhere. They spend less money doing less useless testing and have better overall outcomes. Hardly the killing off of old folks with cuts as you claim.
Otherwise I am just like you all in favor of a Universal Single Payer that covers everyone at a much lower cost.
July 30, 2009 9:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm glad to see the progressive caucus making sure they have a voice in the process. But:
Exactly how did the house compromise "weaken" the public option? You describe the compromises as such here, MoveOn is sending me emails trying to get me bothered about it. But the vague descriptions I saw made it sound like the compromises were almost superficial, a sop to let the blue dogs go to the media and pretend they did something. The descriptions I saw described the changes in terms of like the definition of a "small business" and the amount of federal help in paying for insurance both changing by a percentage amount. It sounded like the house leadership had actually done a good job in placating the blue dogs without weakening the core progressive elements of the bill. Did I miss something?
July 30, 2009 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why are the republicans unified and the dems are not?
You don't see republicans siding with the democrats for the good of the people yet the dems do.
People have said they need to do this to attract the indies and the "moderates".
And that the election results prove it.
But if the republicans can be totally unified and force the bills they want what the hell is the difference in the numbers??
Make no mistake that anything coming from this congress is the result of the democrats NOT the republicans.
There is no medal for saying " we want bi-partisan bills when all that means is you caved in.
Use any means available to pass your legislation with 51 votes.
Makes no difference in the end how you got it done.
Spineless bunch of liars!
July 30, 2009 2:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
How about 50 votes plus Biden! Get the strongest bill possible with 50 votes and save untold millions of Americans the suffering and horror of being told by an insurance corporation that their life is just not worth it. I cannot imagine a better more noble use for the power of being elected to public office than using that power to save the lives and life savings of your fellow human beings. It truly is "blood money" when corporations choose profits over lives. I wish there was some group of protesters who could get everyone's attention with a BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS demonstration!
Republicans and Blue Dogs have BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS!
Drug and Insurance corporations have BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS!
July 30, 2009 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
According to the CBS/New York Times poll, survey respondents get nervous about the low quality after the reform.
In case you are a doctor, and your pay is dependent upon your patient's outcome, you will strive to prescribe the best medicine for your patient, let alone avoiding unnecessary cares, and hope your patient will feel better as quickly as possible.
July 30, 2009 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is like water torture.
Aargh, only 4 or 5 more months to go!
July 30, 2009 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink