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McConnell Contradicts Baucus: Finance Bill Is Not One "Very Many Republicans Will Support"
Brian Beutler | September 15, 2009, 3:19PM
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
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Who're you gonna believe, Mitch McConnell, or Max Baucus?
Today, the Senate Minority Leader and the Senate Finance Committee chair offered mutually exclusive prognoses on the fate of health care reform.
Baucus says there's a "very good chance" that a significant number of Republicans will ultimately support the compromise legislation he's spent months writing, and which he finally plans to unveil either late tonight or tomorrow morning.
But, based on what he's read of the plan so far, the Republican Senate leader is doubtful.
"I don't think that's a package that very many Republicans will support," McConnell said today.
Baucus may be a bit over confident, and his definition of bipartisanship may be unviable. But Senate leadership has made it very clear that, for them, bipartisanship means one Republican.
Harry Reid told reporters today that his plan is to get 60 votes (59 Democrats plus Olympia Snowe) and, if that fails, to reroute as much of the package as they can through the filibuster proof reconciliation process.
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dndobson
September 15, 2009 3:31 PM
Anakin - the Emperor IS the Sith lord...
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mans_best_friend
September 15, 2009 3:51 PM
Boy, am I surprised.
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LarsThorwald
September 15, 2009 3:52 PM
Oh, Max. She isn't going to sleep with you no matter how pretty a corsage you give her at the prom.
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JohnAH
September 15, 2009 4:09 PM in reply to LarsThorwald
So just like he did on Prom night, it's time for Baucus and the Dems to go it "alone" when the time is right at the end of the night. It may not be as cool as getting the girl but the result ends the right way; with a smile and a cigarette.
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Mimi katz
September 15, 2009 4:56 PM in reply to LarsThorwald
You mean that former health care lobbyist who wrote the bill? Who does he think he is--Mike Duvall?
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Andreams
September 15, 2009 3:54 PM
If his bill is based on that 18 page pile of garbage, I'm surprised the repus won't go for it 100%. It gives them and the insurance companies everything they could dream of and dooms the co-ops to a quick and dirty death. A national co-op would have a chance but state ones would never be able to compete with national insurance companies.
No public option and a mandate for us all to buy. What else could anyone except consumers ask for? I would rather have nothing. Using the rate ratio in the Baucus mess, my insurance premium would be $1,886.00 per month. That's for a single policy that now costs $1,000 a month. I can't afford my premium now.
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Parallax857
September 15, 2009 6:49 PM in reply to Andreams
Well, the Republicans won't get on board with anything because they want most of all to deny Obama a "win," no matter how theoretical and meaningless said victory may be. They have dreams of 1994 dancing in their narrow little heads.
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oleeb
September 15, 2009 3:56 PM
What the hell kinda drugs are those guys in Washington on anyway? How can someone like Baucus be so stupid and out of touch with reality? What a pathetic example of a Senator he is. Oy!
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mk3872
September 15, 2009 4:06 PM
Democrat Max Baucus is crafting a bill that REPUBLICANS can support? Huh? What the h*ll difference does it make if we have a Dem majority, then?
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creo13
September 15, 2009 4:09 PM
I'm sure I'm missing it. So set me straight. It is always referred to as 59 dems and O Snow to get us to 60. Why are we not mentioning the two indies? Joe L is unreliable, but Sanders is all in. Are we counting him as a dem? What am I missing?
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Former Federal Employee
September 15, 2009 4:13 PM in reply to creo13
Uh, we are including them.
With the two independents who caucus with us, we had 60 prior to Kennedy's death.
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creo13
September 15, 2009 4:17 PM in reply to Former Federal Employee
Thanks.
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Obama1st
September 15, 2009 4:25 PM
Sen Turtle Face is so lacking in credibility that he can't even muster up an intelligent response as to why his party is passing on this version of health care reform which drives the public to private insurnace carriers. What the fuck else would a repuke want?
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ogliberal
September 15, 2009 4:41 PM
This bill could make it illegal for any insurance company to cover abortions, require that all hospitals erect 12ft high armed walls around their facilities to keep illegals out, eliminate the public option and co-ops...and even a trigger, and cut the propose subsidies down to a quarter of what they are now and the GOP will still oppose it. They will oppose anything that contains even just one item that the Dems like but the GOP doesn't, even if the rest of the bill is stuff that both parties like or that only the GOP likes. This is about denying Obama a "win", even if that win is a piece of garbage like the Baucus plan...or even something worse. The only bill they would support - and I'm not even sure they'd support it - is one that actually increases the number of uninsured people in this country....because as all GOPers know, the real problem is that people in this country have too much healthcare. Hey, everbody can afford health insurance. And if you can't afford it, you're just lazy and irresponsible.
The conservative healthcare reform plan: "Work harder, boy!"
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SPENCER ADAMS
September 15, 2009 4:42 PM
Where is Tom Harkin in all of this debate? He pushed for a public option this weekend, he's taken the torch from Kennedy, yet it was only reported in a local paper.
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sunnysteve
September 15, 2009 4:44 PM
Let's focus on the upside. Massachusetts may replace Kennedy in a few days; then we don't need Snowe.
If one of the "Dems" defects on cloture, then we go to reconciliation. This is my preference, because then the bill can pass with 51 votes, which means it might be able to include the public option. This would both give us a much better bill and ram home the message that, if you bet it all, you just might lose it all.
I began the summer thinking that we should let the private insurance industry have a long transition out of making millions out of discarding the sick. This was primarily in the interest of the many people they employ at being inefficient. Now I relish the thought of their quick demise. Twelve million dollars to be the CEO of a con game? The mafia has a more refined sense of personal honor. These guys are so heartless, they would pull the plug on grandma.
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mans_best_friend
September 15, 2009 4:56 PM in reply to sunnysteve
"...because then the bill can pass with 51 votes,"
Actually they'd need only 50 with Biden casting the deciding vote, but it doesn't matter because right now they don't even have 50 votes. It's more like 47. The purpose of attracting even one Republican vote is pure political optics. They need it to get the Blue Dogs on board. Without them they can't pass a bill with a public option even through reconciliation.
As of now, no one is budging. What we have is a good, old-fashioned stalemate. People can huff and puff and get all indignant, but it won't move things along one millimeter. Someone needs to get creative and find a way to craft a (cover your ears, true blues, cause I'm about to say a dirty word) compromise to get those last few votes.
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sunnysteve
September 15, 2009 5:21 PM in reply to mans_best_friend
Regardless of what bill we get with 50 or 51 votes, wouldn't the bill we get with 60 votes be much more watered down? That's my point. When the bill is already approaching a sham: delivering tens of millions of mandated and publicly subsidized customers to the health insurance industry at private rates, why not fall back on reconciliation and get some measures included that drive down costs and premiums? Obviously, public option competition would do the job best.
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Stiggs
September 15, 2009 5:34 PM in reply to sunnysteve
We could probably get to sixty if the bill allowed insurance companies to club people over the head and take their money and there was a guarantee to pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting the creation of a public option.
Wait a minute. No, not even that would work. The entirety of the thought (if you can call it that) the opposition has put into this is anything is going to be controversial so all they have to do is play up the unpopularity. Can we start following these douche bags around with cameras? What we need are photos of them in bed with hookers and lobbyists. Shouldn't be too hard.
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mans_best_friend
September 15, 2009 6:20 PM in reply to sunnysteve
Not necessarily. There are undoubtedly a lot of Senators who would vote for cloture, but not for the final bill. Most of the Blue Dogs would probably fall into that category. Until they can figure out how to corral those last few votes, reconciliation vs. normal channels is moot.
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Stiggs
September 15, 2009 5:27 PM in reply to mans_best_friend
The problem is that the public option is the compromise. What we have learned is that the majority of the senate consists of obstructionist jerks and corporate shills. The Dems need to figure out how to make it hurt for those unwilling to sit at the table like grownups. Sadly this is unlikely to happen with Reid at the helm (unless he is able to locate where he left his spin). Primary challenge anyone? (Unlikely to be productive I know, but Reid's behavior is a serious obstacle to progress and it needs to be addressed. Anybody have some suggestions that are more productive than my own?)
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davcbr
September 16, 2009 10:36 AM in reply to sunnysteve
A problem here that people forget is that going thru reconciliation has requirements that would, in essence, make the bill even more 'liberal'. So, if we are starting here with 47 votes and trying to get some conservatives on board, the resistance will go up a notch.
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Stiggs
September 15, 2009 5:20 PM
Perhaps we can get a bipartisan rejection of the Baucus bill. I'd be down with that.
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sunnysteve
September 15, 2009 5:25 PM in reply to Stiggs
That's a great idea, because we certainly don't want Baucus involved in negotiating the House/Senate compromise legislation.
Harkin/Waxman would be sweet.
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wayneNtampa
September 15, 2009 6:33 PM
He is either the biggest fool or... 'nuff said.
I doubt there will be any Republican 'Yeas' and before we are done, I predict Rahm is going to have to beg, borrow, threaten and cajole the Blue Dogs in his pocket to vote for the bill so the President has something to sign.
I hope the President learns something from this disaster, especially since the Energy and Climate bill will follow healthcare 'reform' and industry is already in full swing following the same playbook. And lest we forget, the expansion of Hate Crimes, ENDA and the repeals of DOMA and DADT. The fun has just begun!
The lesson: don't shirk your leadership responsibility until its too late to deliver what you promised in the campaign, and moreover, what we need going forward. Give strong guidance and make the case up front. You might as well accept that you are in a fight for your life. Perhaps, a fight to the death and you CAN'T effectively recover from losing control of the message, no matter how eloquent a speech you give.
You mightn't forget who your friends and supporters are before you start 'negotiating' for a feint retreat. We are neither deaf to the art of political doublespeak, nor in denial of polite fictions.
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plan69
September 15, 2009 10:09 PM in reply to wayneNtampa
except that, he gave an effective speech and regained control of the message.....
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NobleCommentDecider
September 15, 2009 8:55 PM
Isn't Kentucky where the locals line up for hours to get free medical care and teeth pulled in animal stalls?
What do they think McConnell has ever done for them or ever will do, or do they even vote?
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labman57
September 16, 2009 1:23 AM
Baucus is obsessed with allaying Republican "fears", yet he shows a total lack of regard about addressing the major concern of many Democrats, i.e., the need for a viable public option. And when the dust settles, the Republicans will still do everything in their power to kill ANY reform proposal.
Bend over Baucus -- the GOP has something for you...
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