What the Health Care Vote Means for Climate Change

The pig has hit the fan in our household.  My poor husband is laid up with H1N1 and I am playing both nursemaid and quarantine agent as my currently-well children are desperately trying to get to daddy so they can help him with his “owies.” All of this sickness and the recent flush of press about vaccines have got me thinking about health care. The successful health care vote by the House on Saturday is probably a good sign for climate change legislation if you are prone to reading the political tea leaves. 

The bumps in the road felt by elected officials tackling healthcare are eerily similar to those taking on global warming. Both were top priorities for then-candidate Obama - priorities that he continues to push forward from behind his desk in the White House. Both topics have been bogged down by inaccurate, slanderous rhetoric; both actually have large and diverse public interest groups supporting them and both have been under constant attack by opposition groups driven by paid industry lobbyists.  Most recently, both policy issues have some 2010 Congressional candidates running scared, as they fear a vote on either bill could cost them their jobs.  

In the face of a national anti-incumbent mood after last week’s election and the impending health care vote, our Congressional leadership had a decision to make – postpone the vote for fear of election repercussions or keep their promise and pass health care legislation.  With many Blue Dogs forecasting the end of the Democratic majority, they could have permanently postponed the health care vote. But that wasn’t the case. The House leadership chose to courageously pass a health care bill, just as they passed a global warming bill last summer.  It was a tough, close vote on a bill that may not be perfect, but they took an important next step in both cases. Not because they were fearless, but because they knew it was the right thing to do. It was what they were elected to do.

Now both bills are in the Senate waiting on consideration. Will the Senate hold fast? Or will they flail in fear of losing their jobs? Here is to hoping for backbone…

 

 

Follow Heather Taylor-Miesle on Twitter: www.twitter.com/NRDC_AF