Reid To Baucus: Ditch Efforts At Bipartisanship
Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) takes his knocks for not driving a hard bargain with Republicans and conservative members of his own party. But a breaking report suggests that might be changing on the issue of health care reform. According to Roll Call Reid "ordered" Senate Finance Committee chair Max Baucus (D-MT) to "drop a proposal to tax health benefits and stop chasing Republican votes on a massive health care reform bill."
That tax provision--more regressive than other financing proposals--is how many expected the committee to pay for their forthcoming health care bill. This jibes well with an earlier report that Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND)--an influential member of the panel--was walking away from the idea.
According to Roll Call "Reid told Baucus that taxing health benefits and failing to include a strong government-run insurance option of some sort in his bill would cost 10 to 15 Democratic votes."
If Baucus got the message, it would indicate a major change in the committee's direction. His is the only relevant panel not to have introduced a draft of health care reform legislation thanks in large part to internal wrangling over provisions like financing and the public option. Finance was widely expected to eschew a public option in favor of privately run health care co-operatives, and to propose paying for the bill by taxing employer-provided health care benefits. Neither idea has support among liberal Democrats.
If the Finance Committee does indeed change course, then all committees of jurisdiction, in both the House and Senate, will be working with legislation that calls for the creation of a public option--something Republicans have vowed to oppose.
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
Great! It's about time somebody told Baucus to get a clue! He's spent all this time bending over backwards to get 1 or 2 Republican votes at the expense of 10-15 Democratic votes.
Can't this guy count??? Why he is a guy who can't do the math on this head of the FINANCE committee!
July 7, 2009 6:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Go Harry! God knows what got into him but I sure hope it stays in his system for a while.
July 7, 2009 6:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
What the hell just happened? I'm cheering on Harry Reid. This feels wrong...
July 7, 2009 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Second.
July 7, 2009 6:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Then the little sailor guy whipped out this can of spinach and this crazy music started playin' and then . . . dang!"
July 7, 2009 8:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Holy Crap! Did somebody spike Harry's porridge with testosterone???
July 7, 2009 10:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's not that Max can't count, he just doesn't want to upset those nice K Street people who give him scads of money, party with him at "Baucus summer camp," and give his former staffers high-paying jobs. And he'd hate for the ever-so-polite Repubs on the cmte to take offense!
He's my Senator, and I'm "proud" to say he's right at the top of the list of the most corrupt Democrats in Congress. Baucus brings home the nickel-and-dime bacon while screwing us on everything that matters. Give him hell, Harry.
July 7, 2009 6:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't take your eyes off them! Could be Max has become too visibly corrupt. Watch for the Trojan Horse.
July 7, 2009 6:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
that's a good point. I'm hoping they run into a situation where there are so many politicians like Baucus that are too visibly corrupt to pass any legislation that is corrupt.
July 7, 2009 7:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great news. Now that he's found that spine, he needs to keep it.
.
July 7, 2009 7:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
To the old adage of "lead, follow, or get out of the way," the Republicans have adopted the fourth option, "obstruct." For the Democrats though, if they want to keep their jobs, they are going to have to stick to the original three.
I think they are starting to hear the faint drums of war coming in through national polls, the internet and local town hall meetings. The public overwhelmingly wants a public option and doesn't want business as usual. I am cautiously optimistic that we're going to start seeing momentum building for strong, progressive health care reform, and those like Baucus are going to realize either get on board or get thrown overboard.
July 7, 2009 7:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Harry Reid will not push for a bill that the insurance companies don't want. If he is pushing on Baucus, it is only because there are other ways he has in mind to prevent a health care bill that would cut that industry's profits. People, especially Reid, don't change overnight.
July 7, 2009 7:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Total buzz kill, hoppy. But quite accurate, probably. Sigh.
July 7, 2009 7:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
hoppy,
truly, I don't trust Reid; and toughness and Harry Reid are like water and oil.
July 7, 2009 8:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're absolutely right Hoppy!
Reid nor any of the other DINO's in the Senate are about to change. We've seen this same PR schtick before where it is reported that out of the blue Reid is actually taking charge and then inevitably the Democrats get screwed to the wall because all it was, was schtick with no substance or truth to it at all. Remember when Harry started "getting tough" on opposing war spending? Remember when he started getting tough on FISA? The Democratic position got royally screwed.
July 7, 2009 11:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
i'm sorry, what is the "Democratic position" on those issues? maybe you mean the far left (or "considerably left") position on those issues?
please don't hijack the entire Democratic party and hold it hostage inside your little notch on the spectrum. thanks.
and btw, all this "DINO"-this and "spineless"-that complaining makes you sound A LOT like this guy:
July 8, 2009 7:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'll be really happy to take back everything I've ever said – or thought – about Reid as a completely ineffective majority leader, but only AFTER he displays a follow-thorough and gets an honest bill passed. This could be all for show, setting us up for an eventual "Gee, I tried my hardest" message.
July 7, 2009 7:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
'Bout time he grew a pair.
July 7, 2009 7:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is time for the Democrats to "take ownership" of the issue. The Republicans have given no indication they are willing to participate in any meaningful way on constructing a solution to the health care problem. So, rather than going bipartisan, and in the process watering down a bill so that it works less well, do what is right.
Taking ownership also means being able to claim credit if it works. And I do strongly believe it WILL work, for a lot of people who do not have health insurance, but would under the new legislation. And it will not hurt those with gold-plated corporate-provided plans.
This is, after all, THE MAIN EVENT!!
July 7, 2009 7:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's right. You can't have bipartisanship with radicals without abandoning reason. Harry Reid has rightfully abandoned the radicals and now reasoned progressive policy can go forward.
July 7, 2009 7:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can he ditch Baucus?
July 7, 2009 7:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is what I want to know, too. I know seniority rules in the Senate, but does leadership have any control over committee assignments?
How can Reid twist Baucus' arm, assuming he really wants to?
July 7, 2009 8:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice change of direction. About time that the majority started doing what they were elected to do.
The Rethugs have overplayed their hand and Reid has stopped being willing to be played for a sucker.
July 7, 2009 7:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or he finally feels like they've done enough to satisfy the priesthood of the Great God Broder to go ahead and do what he always knew he was going to have to do without enraging the Villagers.
July 7, 2009 8:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Give em hell Harry's finally waking up. Took him a while
Too many concussions from his boxing days?
July 7, 2009 8:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bipartisanship--defined. The press is focusing on the votes in Congress to determine bipartisanship rather than the elctorate. The Congressional Republicans have been so isolated that they answer only to a small proportion of the total electorate --about 18%--who control the Republican primaries in most states and districts.
Obama is focusing on are the Republican-leaning voters who do not self-identify as Republicans to strangers on the telephone (in polls) but have definite tendencies to vote Republican as well as true independents. What he, and the Democratic Senate leadership, have been doing is reaching out to the Republican officeholders knowing that they probably will spurn their advances. The real conversation is with the Republican leaners and independents in the electorate, and there are clear signs, I beleive, that that conversation has succeeded. Obama does not have to get the Congressional Republican votes (so long as he gets his bills enacted) to be perceived as bipartisan by the electorate--he just has to been seen as trying in a good faith effort and coming part way. The refrain of "party of no" is taking hold among the elctorate I identified above who are deciding increasingly that it is the Republicans who are at fault and not being bipartisan--a perception which, for once, comports with reality.
Obama has, thus far, manuevered the Republicans into an increasingly isolated position among the electorate and you would be surprised how many in the Republican Congressional leadership have not figured it out. A couple of momths ago I predicted to severl friends that next year the Democrats would NET four seats in the Senate and 10-12 in the House. I am increasingly confident of that prediction.
July 7, 2009 9:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
David, I think you have it right.
Obama, Reid and Pelosi between them have total responsibility to keep the government functioning in spite of the asinine and unified obstructionist actions and language of the Republicans as dominated by the talk show hosts. Obama has done a masterful job of playing the Republicans so that the only positions they could take to oppose him have been more self-destructive than effectively obstructionist on the large issues.
Between Pelosi and Reid, Pelosi has the easier job because of no filibuster. Not easy, but much easier than Reid's job. She still has to mollify the Blue Dogs who are almost as skittish as the Republicans because they fear the next primary. So Pelosi has compromised with both the Republicans and the Blue Dogs to a greater extent than any of us like at all.
Reid with only 59 Democrats until today as well as the filibuster which the Republicans are only mildly hesitant to use was in much worse situation than Pelosi. I'd bet he has been counting votes very closely and keeping the conservative Democratic Senators mollified.
But two things have just changed. Al Franken was sworn in today and the big initiative - health care - is in the balance. This is once in a lifetime, not just in a political career. I'm more and more convinced that the three top Democrats - Obama, Reid and Pelosi, have been gearing everything to powering the health care bill into enactment this year. That's the reason for the refusal to accept delays, and I think they have allowed some things to be enacted that they hate (I know I do) so as to not waste Presidential power on secondary issues. But now we are in the main bout. If I am right, then the gloves are going to come off.
We'll get only hints of the machinations because they aren't even inside the beltway. They are inside the Senate and House. and the Press mostly hasn't a clue, and the ones who have read Richard E. Neustadt's book "Presidential Power" will find that it runs counter to the permitted media narrative. But some reporter with inside connections on the Hill and the smarts to apply Neaustadt's teachings has one Hell of a great book to write, much like Sorenson's "Making of the President."
Anyway, that's what I think has been happening since Obama as inaugurated. This month is the climax of the story.
July 7, 2009 10:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
In a perfect world, the GOP wouldn't have acted like a bunch of asshatted, global-warming denying idiots since at least 1994 when Gingrich came up with 'Contract with America' P.R.
In that world, bipartisan compromise could have occurred between reasonable people with differences of opinion.
Once the GOP spiraled into wingnuttia, and authoritarian nutballism they left reasonable people in the dust. Thair insulting conduct didn't leave Reid any other options, really.
Good for Harry.
Now, here's hoping for prompt results.
July 7, 2009 9:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Friends, friends. Please. Don't do this to yourselves. Reid reportedly barks a little at Baucus, and you start swooning again? What's up with that? Have you forgotten who really runs this country?
We are still way deep in the Age of Trickle Up.
Any "public option" that actually emerges from this charade will be structurally designed to stumble and fall, thereby "proving" the unrelenting superiority of the free market system.
Let me beg you to pull your heads out of your asses. This particular swindle is shifting into high gear!
July 7, 2009 9:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
No swooning here. No head inside ass. This is pretty simple. If there's a straight up or down vote on a bill with a public option, we win. We've got the votes. If--and who knows whether or not it's true--but if Reid told Baucus not to vote against cloture, then Baucus damn well better not vote against cloture.
It's one thing to vote against the public option when you're in the pocket of the insurance companies. But, if you're a Dem, and you're voting to block all of your fellow senators from voting for or against the bill, voting in direct opposition to what your leader and your president have asked of you, then you've pretty well thrown away everything to work for the insurance companies. I would think that a guy with 30 years in the Senate would prefer not to end his career on that kind of a note.
Besides, as Reid supposedly put it, Baucus can vote for cloture to let it come to the floor and then vote against the bill as his wealthy benefactors direct him to do.
So, it's not a matter of get suckered in by Reid or Baucus. Reid probably got leaned on by Obama. Obama is a lot more popular in Nevada than Reid, who could use a little help from the prez in his re-election bid. We'll just have to wait and see if that was really Reid's message and if there are any Democratic senators who didn't take it to heart.
July 7, 2009 9:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
My serious concern has less to do with the calculus of Senate logrolling than with the details of a "publis option." They have carefully driven down our expectations. I fear we will be fooled into accepting a clunker public option.A bad public plan is worse than no plan at all, longterm.
July 7, 2009 10:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why not, when you have a nice seven-figure K Street lobbying gig all lined up? It's quite simple: take care of the insurance companies, they'll take care of you. So it's entirely plausible that any of these clowns could "throw away everything to work for the insurance companies". It's what they do.
July 8, 2009 5:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Now, if Grijalva can only get his hands on Rahm and neuter him -
July 7, 2009 10:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe Senator Reid is starting to realize that you won't be the majority party very much longer unless you start legislating as one. This is long overdue, but I'm still not convinced that a comprehensive healthcare reform bill is in the cards. Hope I'm proven wrong. I have faith in the president, but not his advisers, they've been woefully inadequate thus far.
July 8, 2009 1:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Every one of the idiots in congress needs to get a clue.
The only reason they can't agree on what is good for America is because the system of campaign finance has them hornswaggled into doing what is bad for America.
Not to mention the extremely fraudulent concept stating a corporation is a citizen.
Dumb bastards and criminals, every one.
July 8, 2009 7:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
so, I want a public plan, too. But, I do believe that if there are no GOP votes, we are going to have a hard time keeping the plan. I may be wrong, but something as massive as a government-run insurance program should be bipartisan if we want the insurance program to remain when the GOP runs Congress (and, yes, people like Max Baucus, Chris Dodd, Hagan, etc. will get beat in coming elections).
To me, we should accomplish the public plan by making sure two things are present:
1.) there is a requirement to purchase insurance -- either through the employer, the private sector or through the government -- and there are adequate subsidies to ensure that folks can afford to purchase insurance.
2.) there is a funding mechanism that is affordable, equitable and ensures that the program is sustainable.
I don't see number 1 as being entirely too difficult, but number 2 will be controversial. There are all sorts of studies that show that by not taxing health benefits, employers provide lavish plans to executives and highly compensated employees. These plans serve, too often, to drive up the cost of health care, as doctors order unnecessary tests and the like knowing the insurance company will pay for these tests. By taxing health plans -- by simply including these plans in the individual's AGI -- we're likely to have more balanced plans. It will also help to ensure the government plan is subsidized and paid for.
There are other methods of paying for it, of course, such as increasing marginal tax rates, taxing the provision of health services and etc. But, unless there is a method of payment, the next time Congress changes hands, the GOP will attack health care first, as by then it will have added substantially to our debt load.
So, Reid would be smart to demand an up-or-down on the public option -- and he would be wise to make sure that there is a funding mechanism here.
July 8, 2009 10:29 AM | Reply | Permalink