Baucus Cuts Bait: Moving Forward With Or Without GOP

Max Baucus is getting serious. Just a few hours before President Obama is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress, the Finance Committee chairman announced that the committee would be moving forward with a health care reform bill - with or without the GOP.

The announcement followed a morning meeting with the so-called Gang of Six.

A source with knowledge of the situation said that Baucus told the two other Democrats and three Republicans that he will be putting out a "Chairman's Mark" by the middle of next week whether he has Republican support or not. (A Chairman's Mark is a bill written by the chairman of the committee.)

The week after that, he told them, he'll move it to a vote -- a huge step forward in the Democratic march to comprehensive health care reform and one that has been months in the making. Without one more Republican vote -- or a fast appointment of a Massachusetts senator -- Democrats will be unable to break a GOP filibuster and will be forced to push the legislation through by using a maneuver known as budget reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority vote.

Baucus made clear in the meeting that "it is time for action and time to move forward to get a bill done by the end of the year," said the source.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), a member of the Gang of Six, continued to say throughout the August recess that negotiators would take as much time as they needed, but Obama's speech put increased pressure on the group. Baucus presented the gang with a proposal at the end of last week and has been urging those at the table to act with greater urgency.

On Tuesday, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the best hope for a bipartisan bill, said that the group should not feel pressured by Obama's speech. "I hope we haven't set these deadlines in concrete that we have to have an agreement by tomorrow night because the president is offering a speech," she said.

Later that day, Baucus emerged from the meeting looking as if he was running out of patience. He gave the group until 10 a.m. Wednesday to respond to his proposal, he told reporters. Baucus had not spoken in such a way since the talks began months earlier.

Responses trickled in throughout the day Wednesday, said the source.

"It really comes down to a matter of political will," he said. "The rubber is starting to meet the road here. We're gonna have to start fishing or cut the bait pretty soon and I made that very, very clear to the group."

Comments

[richnerd]

I think he's the biological birth father of Kelsey Grammar.........I'm just sayin'.

[1differentdrummer]

Max, looks to me as if wherever you go the GOP is there, too.

[zanzig]

Baucus "announced that the committee would be moving forward with a health care reform bill - with or without the GOP."

Well, where is the risk in that if what he's moving forward with, is their plan anyway?

[dolphy]

the us will move forward.........without dinosaurs like you

[LeeCalif]

Now that Baucus has gutted the bill, he acts like he's tough.

We will forever remember who you are, and what you did against Americans who need healthcare,
Senator Baucus.

We will forever support your opponent, regardless of party and we will haunt your dreams.

[ReedYoung]

Right on!

(Except that last part; if you want to haunt his dreams, you're on your own. :-)

[Lerrin]

I have no health insurance or insurance coverage.
Thursday- came down with H1N1 / 103F fever/upper respiratory infection with yellow gunk
Still had to go to work - told bosses, but no subs available- told me to come in anyway
Shelled out $10 for a box of masks to do so.
('Stay home'....oh please.....)
Friday- shelled out ONE WEEK'S TAKEHOME PAY for 5 DAYS of medication.
Still waiting on doctor's office bill + cost for lab tests.
HEALTH CARE REFORM NOW.

[petef59]

Go to a few anti-reform meetings and ask all the community-based, faith based, caring people for some help. My guess, they'll overwhelming call you a liar. Then, cough on them.

[redsongia]

You really should have gone to a town hall.

[Mum]

I'm sorry. I had the "swine flu" a couple of months ago, and even though I have insurance the tamiflu pills (I got 5 days worth also.) were $10 a pill. I can just imagine what they must have cost you. Get well and know that there are a lot of us fighting out here to get health care for all.

[Lerrin]

Thanks very much for all of the kind comments (and believe me, I did think about showing up places and coughing! ).

Here's also the deal- I think many people think that all uninsured people are uneducated slackers who don't contribute to their communities, who just sit around watching Springer/Judge Judy.
Here's reality: I have an ACT=31, was high school valedictorian, both Illinois State and Natl. Merit Scholarship recipient for 4 years, write successful grants pro bono that have generated thousands of dollars for non-profit agencies, etc..
I will go toe-to-toe, eyebrow to unibrow with ANYONE who thinks they're smarter/'better'/higher status than me- and I'll not leave flesh on the bone once they enter my crosshairs.
I work hard (FAR FAR harder than when I had a window office and lockable door!), and I deserve health care as much as anyone else.
I earn my keep in this society, I make a positive difference, I make a contribution to society, but I cannot always say 'and conversely'. I deserve health care as much as anyone else. I make my companies work more efficiently,I ease the burdens of other people's lives- I solve LOTS of problems for others, and I have EARNED the right to DEMAND that some of MY problems get solved as a result of my hard-earned WORK. I shouldn't have to pay with my life and health to do so- it is NOT too much to ask.

[Chris McCamic]

Good. Make sure your "mark" includes a strong public option, written in a way we can ram through in Budget Reconciliation. The GOP can go pound sand.

[winthegoodfight]

Max Baucus . . . moving forward with or without the GOP but hand-in-hand with the health care industry. Too little, too late.

[Halter]

Why is this doufus chair of the finance committee?

[gnomic]

Good thing that his bill was written by the insurance industy and gives them windfall profits and does little to help Americans. Thanks for less than nothing, Baccus

[miksmaster]

No sir, you are not moving forward. You are not moving at all. You are stagnant. You have mold growing on you. Please, shut up and go away.

[WeCanDoMore]

Go single payer! These folks do not deserve to be trusted with dog sitting, let alone our health. Money is clearly their highest goal. When it comes to health, a balanced, moral person will say, caring about the well being of the individual should be the highest goal. The health care profession was founded on "FIrst, Do No Harm"., as opposed to, First, get as much money as you can and when necessary, dump them. Well, they go as much $ as they could, now we really should dump them, or as the republicans like to say about lefties, we are being naive. Not sure that a Public Option will do the trick, as opposed to the brass ring of Single Payer, but, at least our eyes have been opened. Sometimes change takes time, and PO will be a big step in the right direction.

[gdcormany]

Eff U Baucus

[mamala4]

You ARE a republican in your thinking Max...who are you kidding?

[Gotcha54]

This is must reading: Health Care as a "Right" for Iraq

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-dorlester/guaranteed-health-care-in_b_280528.html