Is bi-partisanship breaking out in the Senate?

 Is the gridlock in Congress beginning to crack?   With continued fights over the budget and even threats of shutdown, that may be far too optimistic.

But there have been two recent legislative initiatives from Democratic-Republican duos.

1.  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), along with co-sponsors Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Angus King (I-ME), are re-introducing legislation that would reduce the size of banks that are "too big to fail" to reduce a repeat of the 2008 necessity of a government bailout to save our banking system.

From 1933 to 1999, the Glass-Steagall Act regulated this;   and many economists say -- as does Sen. McCain -- that the Act's 1999 repeal "led to a culture of dangerous greed and excessive risk-taking" in the banking industry.   Sen. Warren adds that "The biggest banks are collectively much larger than they were before the [2008] crisis, and they continue to engage in dangerous practices that could once again crash our economy."

Sen. McCain is at odds with the Republican leadership, which is still fighting such reforms.   But at least we have one important Republican willing to stand with Democrats in a sensible policy that puts the country's interest above big banking interests.


2.  Senator Johnny Isakson, (R-GA) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) have re-introduced their bill that provides a benefit under Medicare for doctors and other health care professionals to have discussions with patients for advanced planning for end-of-life care.   This allows mature adults to voluntarily consider options and make advanced decisions, which they can later revoke, about what level of life-extending treatments they want, should they become terminally ill with no hope for cure.   Co-sponsors include a number of both Democratic and Republican senators.

Such a plan was to have been part of the Affordable Care Act before Sarah Palin chose to turn it into a paranoid, hysterical drama -- calling it "death panels" -- for cheap political gain in the 2008 campaign.  She invoked images of unfeeling government agents deciding, for example, that her Downs Syndrome child was not worth saving.  The fact-checking service PolitiFact gave this the dubious distinction of "Lie of the Year" in 2009.

But thanks to Sarah Palin and other bottom-feeders on the right, the damage was done and it was dropped from the ACA.    That provision was not considered worth the political capital like some other provisions that were necessary for the bill to succeed.  Now, thanks to this bi-partisan effort of sensible senators, some sanity has returned;   and it looks like we may eventually act like adults. 

Unfortunately, it's too late for those who may have needed such advanced planning during the last eight years.

Ralph