Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Baucus blows it

We've been waiting around for months while the Senate Finance Committee dithered under Chairman Max Baucus' attempts to draw up a health care reform bill that would have bipartisan support. And he's had this "Gang of Six," three Dems and three Repubs -- all from very small states that in total represent a tiny fraction of the population -- who were going to reach an agreement. Which they haven't, because two of the Republicans have said 'no way,' and the other one is still holding out for more.

And now they're about to come out with something that doesn't satisfy anybody, it seems.

Quoting from George Stephanopolis from ABC online:
Following up on his This Week appearance where he promised to fight on for the public option, Sen. Jay Rockefeller blasted the draft bill produced by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus: “there is no way in its present form that I vote for it unless it changes in the amendment process by vast amounts.”

He’s not alone. Fellow Finance Committee member Ron Wyden is livid too. Expect a rocky mark-up next week. As one top Democrat told me, the fundamental problem is that

Democrats “are being asked to support a bipartisan bill that doesn’t have bipartisan support.”

He goes on to say that Maine's Senator Olympia Snowe, the Republican thought most likely to vote for the bill, has said she's not ready to sign on; and it will be presented to the full committee tomorrow without her endorsement.

So -- let's don't go down this road again, as we did with the stimulus bill, where Obama and the Democrats watered down the bill to get Republican support, and then they didn't vote for it anyway.

No more bipartisan bills that don't get bipartisan support. Why do that? It's crazy. That's giving away the family farm. Don't do it.

Ralph

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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 16, 2009 at 4:58 PM

    This is a true dilemma. I agree that the Republican bloc [block] vote strategy places them in the not-worth-the-effort category. On the other hand, Obama doesn't want to be snookered into the partisan moniker either. I expect he'll keep trying more than we want him to, but I doubt he will cave like they want him to. In his Healthcare speech, he as much as said that.

    With the far right controlling the Republican side of the aisle, I keep hoping that the absurdity of their stance will create a Party split. I think that's what Obama hopes for too. But both of us might be being way too naive. In my mind, it hinges on the 2010 midterm elections. The Republicans are hoping that their obstructionism will gain them more power in 2010. I'm hoping that their obstructionism will bring them the opposite result.

    This getting over Reagan/Bush/Bush thing is really hard work!!

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