Senate Picks Up The Ball On Health Care Reform

Roll Call:

Senate Democrats on Monday are set to pick up the battle over health care reform where the House left off, but the path forward remains uncertain as Republicans comb the reconciliation package for weaknesses and Democrats hunker down in an attempt to preserve the integrity of the bill.

Read the whole story: Roll Call

Comments

[Clevelandinwi]

08:01 AM on 03/23/2010

The public option is gone, sadly. Too many senators are bought and paid for by insurance, big pharma, health, oil, wall street, etc. to do this. Anybody with a brain knows that it is the only way to really reform the health care industry but I fear it won't happen. Regressives vote NO and hide behind all their so-called 'beliefs' and a lot of Progressives bob-and-weave to gain cover for their anti reform positions (see blanchlincoln, bennynelson, etc). The game is almost over but the work just begins.

[meko]

09:41 AM on 03/23/2010

Lincoln and Nelson are not progressives. Lincoln even thinks Liberal is a dirty word. Otherwise, you are spot on.

[jws2346]

02:55 AM on 03/23/2010

Holy crap? Does this mean the whole thing starts over again? Does this mean we're gonna' have to listen to these hot air bags day and night for another year?

[MelanieMatthias]

07:12 PM on 03/22/2010

We can do this, too! Fired up - ready to go!

[meko]

07:25 PM on 03/22/2010

Okay then. Contact Sen. Bennet of Colorado and tell him to bring up te public option amendment for a vote. The bill passed, so the amendment can't endanger it. He got 51 Senators to sign a letter saying they'd vote for it. That's all you need in reconciliation.

That way we know where we stand and what lies ahead. Email him now. The last chance for him to act is tomorrow.

[MelanieMatthias]

08:23 PM on 03/22/2010

that is very funny, nice try, i guess but you should take your repub self on down the road. The train left without you.

[meko]

08:34 PM on 03/22/2010

If you want a public option, your last chance may be with a senate amendment to the reconciliation bill tomorrow.

The Senate bill has already passed. It cannot be undone.

So if you are at all sincere about further reform, you should be calling for a Senator to bring it up for a vote. 51 senators signed the Bennet letter. If they mean it, they'll vote yes.

So why not have the vote?

[meko]

04:22 PM on 03/22/2010

It only takes one Senator to propose a public option amendment. 51 have already said they'd vote for it. It would make the bill hugely popular (as the PO polls higher than the bill alone by over 30 points). It would save Democrats.

Otherwise the Republicans will win with 3 simple talking points:
1. The government is forcing you to pay 8% of your income as a direct tax to insurers
2. If you don't, they hired over 15,000 IRS agents to enforce it
3. They may be taxing you on that thing they're forcing you to buy

Mandates without a rate authority, or a public option, or a medicare buy-in, or direct drug-price negotiation by medicare, or drug reimportation, or a central-provider reimbursement negotiator are going to lead to really high premiums. They haven't even repealed the anti-trust exemption that allows insurers to engage in price fixing.

I know that the Republicans wouldn't have done anything to control insurers either. And if they were in power, they'd be the ones mandating purchase and collecting that sweet-sweet lobbyist cash. That's what Romney did in Massachusetts when he enacted this plan. But this time the Democrats did it. They got the cash, but their fingerprints are on the deal.

[dwmulenex]

04:18 PM on 03/22/2010

why is the minority party unable to understand the concepts of (1) elections matter, and (2) majority rules? No case on the substance, so they'll show off a mind numbing knowledge of procedure. Let tem filibuster until one of the old white men drops to the floor. Better yet, do as the GOP did: if you can't get the Parliamentarian to rule the way that's needed, fire him and let Joe Biden make the rulings. Maybe John McCain will spit on the President if Obama reminds the senator that he lost the election one more time.

[meko]

07:28 PM on 03/22/2010

There are 51 who said they'd support a public option if it came to a vote. All it takes is one to propose it.

We don't need Republicans to make this happen. If Democrats want it they can do it now.

[dmsdzinr]

02:55 PM on 03/22/2010

Dear Harry Reid and Democratic Senators, DON'T F THIS UP!!! Stand Strong and DON'T BACK DOWN!
The Republicans are Running Scared.

[meko]

07:30 PM on 03/22/2010

They've already printed their "I didn't vote for the mandate, so don't blame me when the IRS comes" signs printed.

[Marlyn]

01:39 PM on 03/22/2010

"A senior Republican Senate aide said the GOP would also attempt to tar the reconciliation process as illegitimate."

They seem so dumb, as if they had never used reconciliation, like for example the Bush Tax Cuts for the RICH.

[McFlipFlop]

03:05 PM on 03/22/2010

So true!

[Marlyn]

01:16 PM on 03/22/2010

Republicans are "laying out a coordinated plan to SCARE waffling House Democrats".

Boo!

[Marlyn]

01:11 PM on 03/22/2010

"they privately are conceding that the GOP has a decent shot of finding something that will have to be axed from the bill."

It's alive! The health care debate goes on.

[k6007]

01:05 PM on 03/22/2010

Dust your gonadsoff harry, lets Do This.

[Marlyn]

01:00 PM on 03/22/2010

John Cornyn (Texas): “We’ll either bring down the whole bill, or we’ll punch big holes in it.”

I'LL HUFF AND I'LL PUFF AND I'LL BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN!

[DDKAHALAS]

12:19 AM on 03/23/2010

What goes around comes around....Whos Waterloo???