Let's face it, politicians can be exasperating. Politicians who run for President get a level of exposure that would make most of us run for cover.
But Dennis Kucinich is taking a drubbing for doing what more progressives should be doing: standing up for a public option as part of the health reform bill, and demanding an ERISA amendment.
This is not a simple matter of getting the health reform bill passed. Passing a health reform bill is a bare minimum requirement for the U.S. to make progress towards an acceptable level of social justice and it should be done. Today's Hill reports that the votes in play are -- well, most of them. There are presently 114 Democrats declaring hesitation about the bill:
Firm No, Leaning No, Likely No (36)
Firm Yes (2)
Leaning Yes (5)
Undecided (71)
We'll come back to this.
Last November, 219 Democrats voted to pass a health reform bill, 39 voted No. The bill included a public option, and also included odious provisions limiting access to abortions. Now the speaker needs 216 "yes" votes to pass a scaled back version of the bill, with fixes in the form of a budget reconciliation bill. That means she can lose 37 Democrats.
Some history
Congressman Kucinich voted for the House bill when it went through the Education and Labor Committee. That bill included a public option and an amendment he proposed to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), to permit states to implement single payer systems without facing a court challenge by employers.
Employers like ERISA, they like ERISA's provisions that preempt state legislation on employment-related health care benefits, and they would be just as happy not to see any changes to it. Passing the amendment through the Committee was not an easy task, and it came about because Republican members of Congress joined some progressives to vote yes, doubtless alert to the fact this provision alone could swell Republican political contributions, and possibly sink the bill if it came before the full House. Nevertheless, the majority of the Committee voted to accept the amendment. Under normal circumstances, that would indicate it would show up in the bill that went to the House for a vote.
You didn't see that amendment in HR 3692. That's because in the interim the Chamber of Congress wrote to the House leadership and pledged to oppose the entire bill if it included the ERISA amendment. The House leadership crafted a bill they thought would pass, and that did not include any changes to ERISA. This was before the recent Supreme Court decision giving corporations expansive rights to influence politics. Mr. Kucinich voted "No" on the final bill.
Getting to the Public Option
Now Mr. Kucinich says he would like to discuss changing his vote to a Yes. He wants 2 things in the House bill: A public option. And the ERISA amendment.
Turns out the majority of Americans agree with him. The most popular part of the bill is the public option, and with good reason. Skeptical as we are of the government, allergic as we are to wonkitude, we have no doubt whatsoever about what lies in store for us if we have to start forking over our premiums to the private insurance industry without the option to vote with our feet. We'll agree to pay up to get close to universal coverage. But we want a safe, affordable haven. The public option offers that, or at least the structural hope of something like that. Despite all that, we hear no end of excuses and proclamations from our elected leaders about why we can't have it. Last week, a local health advocacy group picketed Kucinich in his district for threatening to vote No on a bill without the P.O.
Kucinich isn't holding out for a boondoggle, or a minority vendetta. He's staking a claim for a policy most people want. There are 114 votes in play. One of them belongs to a progressive. Let's see about moving the other 113. Then we can come back and thank Dennis for voting Yes on a bill we actually helped to shape.
Follow Ellen R. Shaffer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ershaffer
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/09/nation/na-health-age9
The numbers running around for average premiums is about 13k per year
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2009-09-15-insurance-costs_N.htm
"Allows insurance companies to charge people who are older 300% more than others."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-hamsher/top-10-reasons-to-kill-th_b_399245.html
How dare he stick to his pledge to vote against a bill without a public option! Consistency and honesty? The GALL of the man! Ride him out of town on a rail!
We are never going to get a single payer system from the federal government the way things stand, the GOP and 9 Dem Senators are basically owned by the insurance lobby. SCOTUS just ruled corporations can spend as much as they want on ad campaigns, so you know in the future it's going to be very difficult to get any candidate who will stand up to big business elected.
Instead of criticizing Dennis, everyone should be contacting him in support and contacting his critics asking them to include the ERISA amendment at the very least.
However I think the apparent fact that we can't get health care reform from this congress and president is a VERY compelling argument to fire this congress and this president.
I live in Massachusetts. Mandates don't work.
Kucinich also voted "no" on the original House Bill -- which DID have a public option. Out of over 400, there were less than 20 members who claimed to vote "no" based on their long-standing "progressive principles".
A brilliant strategy? No, it isn't.
It is, in my opinion, self-serving and heartless to those Americans (especially young people 26 and under, and those of us that are self-employed) whom will greatly benefit from this bill.
Ellen EXPLAINS WHY Dennis voted "no" on the original House bill.
READ IT THROUGH.
"Last September, progressive groups including MoveOn, DFA and blogs across the country came together to raise over $430,000 for 65 members of Congress who pledged to vote against any health care bill that doesn't have a public option.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich is one of those members who took the pledge and intends to honor it.
And now MoveOn is demonstrating against him because of it. He's being threatened with primary challenges, and President Obama is going to his district today to campaign for the health care bill.
The health care bill that Congress now wants to pass doesn't contain a public option, which would have served as a check on private insurance. Instead, the bill is written as a giant giveaway to big business--it doesn't make health care affordable, it just forces people to buy insurance from unregulated monopolies.
Dennis Kucinich is doing what a member of Congress should do: holding out his vote for something that 80% of the American people want. Now that only 50 votes are needed in the Senate, and 51 Senators have said they'd vote for a bill with a public option, even that last threadbare excuse is gone.
Dennis is asking the question everyone should be asking: why?
If ...Dennis to be targeted for his principles and have his political career destroyed for simply doing what progressives should be doing, no member of Congress will ever have the political courage to stand up against corporate power again."”
The principles of Dennis Kucinich are now held against him for refusing to abandon the people who asked for his support.”
Your guess is correct:
Zilch
Also, he is being accused of grand standing for his career - just how is his present position helping his career?
Dear Friends,
It is said one should not ask how sausage or laws are made. Are you concerned about a public option? Let me share with you some insight about health care legislation which may not be good for your health.
A lesson in politics. The Kucinich Prediction: Here's what's going to happen ...
House will make a big deal about keeping/putting a public option in HR3200 because it competes with insurance companies and will keep insurance rates low.
The White House will refer to the President's speech last week where he spoke favorably of the public option.
The Senate will kill the competitive public option in favor of non-competitive "co-ops". Senate leaders like Kent Conrad have said the votes to pass a public option were never there in the Senate.
The bill will come to a House-Senate Conference Committee without the public option.
House Democrats will be told to support the conference report on the legislation to support the President.
The bill will pass, not with a "public option" but with a private mandate requiring 30 million uninsured to buy private health insurance (if one doesn't already have it). If you are broke, you may get a subsidy. If you are not broke, you will get a fine if you do not purchase insurance.
This legislative sausage will be celebrated as a new breakthrough and will be packaged as health insurance reform.
The insurance companies, banks, and big government corporate contractors are all holding the voters hostage through the bought-off Congressional leaders like Harry Reid (who accepted more campaign contributions from health insurance companies than any other member of Congress in 2007-2008), Pelosi, Clyburn & Waxman (who, along with Earl Pomeroy D-ND, are the largest Democratic recipients of AHIP campaign contributions in the House in 2007-2008).
The political theatrics orchestrated through the corporate media are award-winning achievements for the biggest media corporate sponsors (who now also sponsor PBS and fund CSPAN).
The award: forcing principled elected representatives to vote in favor of bill that doesn't serve the public interest -- but serves the corporate interests -- while the public looks on helplessly as they're told "there aren't enough votes" in Congress to do what the voters want.
After witnessing the past 16 months, and watching the "progressive" masks be removed from the same ole corporatist neoliberals as usual - after deceitfully gaining our votes, I appreciate you more than ever before - for being the ONLY progressive "d"emocrat who will courageously stand up for us and do the right thing - when no one else really is or will. You have led the way.
You always have.
You never played a deceitful and malign game with the American people half-way supporting the public option in PUBLIC, while working behind the scenes to kill its passage all along in PRIVATE.
You remind us of the best of what the "d"emocratic party can be and should be - of what our leaders SHOULD BE.
You will NEVER lose the support of the people who are seeing through this sham.
History will be kind and most gracious to you.
And, THANK YOU, ELLEN R. SHAFFER, for reminding us in concise and sharp detail ALL that we need to remember about what has happened throughout this political process.