CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION
– CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS
June 11, 2009 – 10:48 p.m.
Questions Over Lobbyist Meetings Complicate Health Care Negotiations
By Bart Jansen and Greg Vadala, CQ Staff
Health care lobbyists met Thursday with Senate Republicans despite what some characterized as warnings from Democratic staffers against undermining overhaul legislation.
Democratic leaders denied discouraging participation in talks as health care legislation takes shape, citing committee meetings with Republican lawmakers and sessions with industry advocates, such as one Thursday at the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
But attendees at a June 10 meeting with top Democratic aides described apparent warnings about participating in two meetings with Republicans on Thursday. One meeting included Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Thune of South Dakota, and the other was with GOP leadership staffers.
Those apparent warnings came from Russell W. Sullivan, the Finance Committee staff director, and Jonathan G. Selib, chief of staff to Finance Chairman Max Baucus , D-Mont., according to a Democratic lobbyist who was among those cautioned about Thursday’s Republican meetings.
The lobbyist said that he didn’t feel threatened — “not at all” — but that there was a general message that working with Republicans would be a “hostile act.”
According to the lobbyist, Selib said: “I’m a Mets fan, and as you know, the Mets and Yankees hate each other. And you have to decide, are you for the Mets or the Yankees?”
The lobbyist said the message he got was: “This is going to be a big bill and we’re willing to work with people to change it. But if your clients have any interest in blowing it up, we’re not going to work with you.”
Another participant in the June 10 meeting said he also felt discouraged from working with Republicans.
“There was not an overt pressure about attending a specific meeting,” said the attendee, who also asked not to be identified. “There was a general comment made that it would be inconsistent to be actively working in a constructive manner with the Finance chairman and committee members to develop a bipartisan health reform bill while at the same time working on a strategy to undermine passage of health care reform.”
Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, citing published reports, took to the Senate floor early Thursday to sharply criticize such tactics. “I hope the staff on the other side doesn’t view health reform as a process they control by threats and hostilities,” McCain said.
Democrats are trying to prevent a group of Republican critics from killing the legislation, said a senior Democratic aide who asked not to be identified.
“While Democrats and many Republicans are working collaboratively to reform health care, a small group of Republicans appear all too eager to derail this promising, bipartisan effort,” the aide said.
When asked about the matter on June 10, Baucus said he was unfamiliar with any threats against attending meetings organized by Republicans.
A Finance Committee spokesman confirmed that Democratic committee aides met June 10 with lobbyists interested in health care, but he declined further comment, saying he did not attend the session.
The spokesman, Scott Mulhauser, said Baucus was committed to keeping stakeholders informed about the legislation.
“This is a lengthy, transformative process and meetings like these are a critical part of the ongoing, bipartisan effort to continue to keep everyone at the table working together,” Mulhauser said.
Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada called any accusation that Democrats were discouraging dialogue “foolishness.”
“Another thing — even if we tried to stop them, we couldn’t,” Reid said.
Charles E. Schumer , D-N.Y., added that the Finance Committee has held “countless round tables” where “all the advocacy groups are lined up on every side asking questions.”
Patty Murray , D-Wash., noted that the HELP Committee met Thursday afternoon with numerous stakeholders on health care.
“We have a health care hearing this afternoon in front of all the advocacy groups and all the Republicans,” Murray said.
Thune characterized Thursday’s session as one in a series with companies that are likely to bear the costs, through higher taxes, of the Democratic proposals. The aim is to gauge reaction and perhaps recruit stakeholders to oppose options such as a government-funded insurance plan and a mandate requiring employers to help pay for heath insurance.
“We’re trying to engage them because as more and more of this comes out, we think a lot of them have been told out of fear to keep silent,” Thune said.
He said Thursday’s participants were joking that Democrats were probably surveilling the room and jotting down names.
“It was all in good humor. But it also strikes a chord,” Thune said. “We continue to see them in a panic mode; they are told to play ball or shut up.”
But as Republicans attempt to mobilize concerns about the legislation, Thune noted that the American Medical Association, the nation’s largest organization of physicians, warned that it would not support the creation of a government-run health insurance plan that compels doctors’ participation.
“A lot of these folks are in a wait-and-see position. We’re trying to engage and be constructive to try and make this better,” Thune said. “But we’re hoping when they realize how bad this is going to be if it continues in its current trajectory, that they will be enlisted as supporters in our aim to kill bad things in this bill.”
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