CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
July 19, 2009 – 10:10 p.m.
Pivotal Week Ahead for Health Bill
By Alex Wayne, CQ Staff
President Obama faces a momentous week for his health care overhaul.House Democratic leaders move toward a face-off with moderates in their caucus over that chamber’s proposal, and members of a key Senate committee are expected to produce a bipartisan alternative plan.
Two House committees have already approved legislation (
“There’s no doubt in my mind that if the Blue Dogs join with the Republicans, they can bring this bill down,” said Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry A. Waxman , D-Calif.
Senate Bipartisan Legislation
In the Senate, Finance Chairman Max Baucus , D-Mont., said at the end of last week that he was “very close” to an agreement on bipartisan legislation with a core group of his committee’s members, including Republicans Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine. Obama and Senate Democratic leaders have pressured Baucus to finish his bill rapidly; the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee has already reported its own partisan version of the legislation.
Snowe and five other centrist senators sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nevada., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., on Friday, asking them to have patience while Finance finishes its bill.
“While we are committed to providing relief for American families as quickly as possible, we believe taking additional time to achieve a bipartisan result is critical for legislation that affects 17 percent of our economy and every individual in the U.S.,” they wrote.
Reid wants the Senate to pass a bill before its August recess.
When two House committees — Education and Labor and Ways and Means — considered the Democratic health care legislation last week, Blue Dogs on those panels voted against it, but the moderate caucus is not well represented on those panels and could not stop the legislation from advancing.
The situation is different on Energy and Commerce, where eight Democrats are Blue Dogs. If they and the Republicans voted as a bloc, they would hold a 31-28 majority.
So, behind the scenes, a fight for the Blue Dogs’ votes is under way. Republicans won a small victory Friday when, on the first recorded vote of the committee’s markup, seven Democrats — all but one Blue Dogs — voted with the GOP to adopt an amendment by John Sullivan , R-Okla., aimed at preventing the legislation from creating duplicates of current government health programs.
After the vote, Waxman asked the Blue Dogs if they intended the vote as a statement. Waxman said they told him they did not; rather, they simply thought Sullivan’s amendment was meritorious.
Still, leaders on both sides got the message: Blue Dogs’ votes are up for grabs.
“Preliminary indications are that they agree with many of the positions our side has,” said Nathan Deal , R-Ga. He said Republicans on the committee had talked with the Blue Dogs about the areas in which they might agree, as had their staffs, and that “efforts will be made to draft [amendments] in such a way that they’ll vote with us on those amendments.”
The Sullivan amendment, though, was insignificant compared with the votes the committee will take this week, including one on the controversial government-run “public plan” that the Democratic legislation would create to compete with private insurers.
Blue Dogs have said they want significant restrictions on that plan, which insurers and business groups oppose. No Republican in Congress has expressed support for Democrats’ version of the idea.
Deal said he expected an amendment from Republicans that would strip the public plan from the bill. If Blue Dogs do not go for that, Republicans would likely support a Blue Dog amendment that would create a “trigger” for the public plan, preventing it from operating unless an overhaul of the private insurance market fails and many people are unable to find affordable coverage.
Waxman has already promised changes to the bill to satisfy some of the Blue Dogs’ concerns, including provisions in a manager’s amendment he has offered that would grant the secretary of Health and Human Services wide latitude to expand experimental programs aimed at reducing health costs. He said Friday that he continued to talk with the group about other possible changes.
CBO Director’s Outlook
A sticking point developed late last week, when Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf told the Senate Budget Committee that neither the House bill nor the Senate HELP bill would significantly slow the long-term growth of health costs, and would likely increase federal health care spending.
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. , D-N.J., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, said House Democrats were open to modifying their measure. “We need to get input both from Republicans as well as Blue Dogs . . . and as much as possible, incorporate ideas from both,” he said.
But an outstanding question is whether the Blue Dogs would team with Republicans to sink the legislation entirely. Waxman and Pallone are both doubtful. “I think that it would be such a mistake for any group of Democrats to bring down this legislation and give the president a defeat — especially those in marginal districts,” Waxman said. “They are the ones who will pay a political price when voters get angry that Congress hasn’t responded to their health care concerns.”
Comments
Let me be clear the current recession resulted from the concentration of capital toward a few, thereby revived middle class and consumer confidence would be a key to vibrant economy activity and employment as the money does not evaporate. Basically, If ruling party changes, accordingly tax system also does, especially given the condition that the middle class is undergoing severe financial hardship as a consequence of the extremely high fuel price, mortgage rate, and insurance premium, which is a beauty and virtue of democracy as we know. In case some people have enjoyed the benefit of exemptions, that might imply others have shouldered the equivalent of their share. Now the time has come for the middle class and middle class-oriented party to take initiative. In general, advanced states are characterized as a broad base of middle class, the recovery of which is what the last presidential election is for, too. Alongside a tax on the richest, alcohol tax and ending subsidies for the private insurers can be considered, I guess. Thank You !
In 1980 the top 1% of the population controlled 9% of the wealth. Now that same 1% controls over 22% of the wealth. Any Democrat of any stripe that votes against Obama's Health care Plan should be eliminated from public office, and my campaign contributions will reflect that opinion.
That top 1% also pays 34% of all federal income taxes. The top 50% pays 96% of all income taxes. You can't cut the taxes of the bottom 38% because they don't pay any.
Why do you refer to Blue Dogs as "moderates"? Correctly, they should be described as "conservative" or "right-wing" Democrats.
all aarp people need to go to this site today and demand that their senators and represenatives sign this "Responsible Health Care Reform Pledge" and show us that you really do represent us and are not just a rubber stamp for obama. http://www.letfreedomringusa.com/pledge-to-read also any health insurance plan that they enact must cover all people including allmmembers of congress and the president with the same plan, if they say it is good for all of us then it should also be good enough for them !!!!!!!!!!
All of the current crisis are a result of bad government regulation and lack of proper enforcement and that's what the governments job is. We don't need to give government more control, we need them to create simple proper regulation to optimize competition and enforce them to penalize the cheaters. Letting government run a buisness is inefficient, it only looks cheaper because they hide their costs under other budgets and they have unlimited resources with taxpayer dollars. Vote out the arrogant imperialist and vote in people that want to referee fair free trade. Anything else and we will be down to 2 classes, the ruling class and the peasants. Which class will you be in?
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