Does slowing down the legislative process equate to “killing” health care? If so, how?
via Citing CBO-Director’s Statements, Senate Centrists Urge Slower Pace For Health Care Reform | TPMDC.
Six key Senate Centrists–Ben Nelson (D-NE), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Ron Wyden (D-OR)–are asking Democratic and Republican leaders to slow down the pace of health care reform efforts.
“[I]n the view of [CBO Director Doug Elmendorf's] statement, there is much heavy lifting ahead,” reads a letter the group signed today. “We look forward to working with you to develop legislation that is vital to the well-being of the American people and urge you to resist timelines which prevent us from achieving the best results.”
According to Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim, who first obtained the letter, “The organized effort to slow down the process is a blow to the reform effort.” And, indeed, there [sic] letter exemplifies a growing sense among centrists and health reform skeptics that the pace of reform should be slowed down. But it’s also a restatement of very publicly held views. Earlier today, Nelson himself appeared on CNN and suggested congressional health care leaders should not to move too quickly.
The President wants the Senate bill yesterday, and conventional wisdom says that if this process drags on past the August recess then there will be the possibility that it won’t pass this year. So? I would much rather see the right bill get passed at a later date than have the wrong bill passed immediately. The “Gang of Six” have asked for a little more time, not a hatchet.
President Obama gave his weekly address this morning on this subject. I read the transcript and there is no solid reason or justification that would back up the idea that this legislation has to be out of committee before the August recess. The video:
Here is the only part of the President’s address that speaks to the urgency of the bill:
(snip) This is the status quo. This is the system we have today. This is what the debate in Congress is all about: Whether we’ll keep talking and tinkering and letting this problem fester as more families and businesses go under, and more Americans lose their coverage. Or whether we’ll seize this opportunity – one we might not have again for generations – and finally pass health insurance reform this year, in 2009.
I agree. Health care reform must pass this year – and it must contain a public plan. But, in all honesty, will giving it a couple more weeks do irreparable harm?
In yet another attack on the liberal agenda, the ultra left-wing economist Paul Krugman penned an op-ed today harshly criticizing any notion of delay in the process of passing the health care reform bill. The op-ed is entitled, The Six Deadly Hypocrites.
Will the destructive center kill health care reform? It looks all too possible.
What’s especially galling is the hypocrisy of their claimed reason for delaying progress — concern about the fiscal burden. After all, in the past most of them have shown no concern at all for the nation’s long-term fiscal outlook.
Case in point: the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, which denied Medicare the right to bargain for lower drug prices, locked in overpayments to private insurance companies, and did nothing, nothing at all, to pay for its proposed outlays. How many of these six self-proclaimed defenders of solvency voted no on the crucial procedural vote? One. (Joe Lieberman, to my surprise.)
Well, Paul, the Bush administration never paid for any legislation at all, especially the most expensive – the Bush tax cuts of 2003 that cost over a trillion dollars. And you are right, there was no concern for fiscal responsibility at that time from these six Senators. But times have changed. Obama has taken full responsibility for today’s economy. He has opened his arms and has embraced this mess as if it were his own. President Obama is the one who has demanded fiscal responsibility, and yet he wants to hurry the process of health care reform without giving these conservative Democrats a chance to catch their breaths and consider the impact of the costs. It’s okay nowadays to talk about saving money in the long run.
And what is “especially galling” to me sometimes is how Krugman, Ryan Grim, and others can begin pouting and stomping their feet whenever some new event happens that upsets the progressive left’s apple cart. If we can make it through eight years of the most spendy administration ever, we can surely do the next few months without a major mishap. We’ll get the apple vendor safely to the hospital, so stop fretting.
UPDATE ,07/19/09:
via Orszag: Republicans Trying To Kill Health Care Reform Through Delay
President Obama’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orszag, accused Senate Republicans on Sunday of trying to kill health care reform by dragging out the legislative process.
Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, Orszag labeled the attempts to push back the health care reform timeline as a “typical Washington bureaucratic game of if you don’t have a better alternative just delay in hopes that that kills something.”
“We want to get this done by August and we think we can,” he added. “There are those that are advocating delay just as a desperation move to try and kill this.”
Orszag stressed that not everyone calling for delay had sinister motives. The moderate Democrats in the Senate and Blue Dog Democrats in the House, he said, were “actively participating in the debate and that is great.” This past week, Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) Mary Landrieu (La.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.), along with Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) and Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins signed a letter asking to slow down the health care reform debate.
See? Not everyone calling for delay has sinister motives. Besides, Orszag accuses Republicans of trying to kill health care reform by slowing it down without ever offering any conclusive evidence that they are, in fact, doing that.
And, he doesn’t tell us how slowing down the process will kill the bill. His explanation sounds a bit hokey. He speaks of Republican attempts to ask for more time as a, “typical Washington bureaucratic game of if you don’t have a better alternative just delay in hopes that that kills something.”
Weak.
Listen. If we are steadfast and continue to call, sign petitions, and generally push from our end then health care reform, with a public option, will pass Congress. If it is not done by the August recess, then it will be soon after. Obama told us during the campaign that change is up to us, not him, so keep up the pressure.
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The Senate Health Care Compromise Bill – Not Too Compromised (UPDATED)
Re: Think Progress » The Progressive Case For Passing The Senate Health Bill , By John Podesta on Dec 16th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I am sad that Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson are holding out for their own personal agenda. I wish we had the public option here in the US so the less fortunate can enjoy access to the same health care system. It’s a shame that we cannot provide medical treatment to those who are so poor they have to choose between buying food and paying an insurance premium.
I say lets go ahead and chunk the public option and the Medicare buy-in and then take those issues up later in a separate bill under the reconciliation process. If we pass the current bill that contains more safeguards and consumer protections than ever in the history of health insurance, then we will have accomplished at least a partial victory for the poor and working poor.
Listen to John Podesta, CEO of the Center for American Progress, and former chief of the Obama transition team:
Howard Dean wants to scrap this bill and start over. I’m not saying that Howard Dean is wrong. There are many things in this bill that are unsavory, like the mandatory purchase of insurance and the interstate rule change, but there are many things in this bill that help. There are subsidies for those who will not be able to afford premiums. The final language of the bill is still weeks away. I say cool your jets, dear progressives, and let’s work toward passing this bill.
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UPDATE: I jsut read a great article slamming Howard Dean and his call to kill the health reform bill. It is linked from the Huffington Post to the Washington Post. The article is short, but full of facts. By Ezra Klein:
Sounds pretty good to me!
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