Tag: health care

Mark Pryor tosses more dirt on health care rationing’s grave.

The Hill article is surprisingly garbled – I assume that they’ll clean it up this morning – but the original article (“Pryor: Health care reform may not happen this year”) is a lot clearer. The short version is that they’re back at the ‘discussion phase’ for a health care rationing bill, which is legislature-speak for “we’re going to drop the subject, and hope that you will, too.” Every day that it doesn’t get done is a day closer to the day that it won’t get done, and if it’s not done this year, it definitely won’t get done. At least, by Democrats.

And as for reconciliation…

Some have suggested the Senate could use the reconciliation process, which would require 51 votes instead of 60, to pass a bill satisfactory to both chambers.Several moderate Democrats, including Arkansas’ Blanche Lincoln, have said they oppose that idea. Lincoln said Tuesday the process should be transparent and should not involve “last-minute efforts to force changes.”

Pryor told reporters today he was not necessarily opposed to the idea, but it was not his first choice and he doubted it would happen.

“I think it’s people talking right now over on the House side trying to figure out a way forward on health care, but my sense is, in the end reconciliation will not even be attempted,” he said.

Because somebody had to say it, it seems. Pryor’s not up for re-election until 2014, so he can safely shrug off the idea of reconciliation… and, honestly? By now that actually-strictly-defined-procedure has become the equivalent of “and then a miracle happens*” for a certain segment of the Left. At some point somebody needs to explain to them why it’s not a cure-all.

Or why the current ruling party has a sudden disinclination to encourage simple-majority legislating in the Senate.

Moe Lane

*Or, possibly, “And then the NPC casts Wish.”

Crossposted to RedState.

Quote of the Day, Health Care Hot Potato edition.

Philip Klein:

It turns out “ping pong” means that House and Senate Dems both say the ball is in the other’s court.

More here and here, although it should be noted that Rep. Frank is apparently backpedaling from this morning’s assurances that he would be respecting the fact that elections have consequences, no doubt to spite me…

Crossposted to RedState.

Only Rep. Frank could go kill health care rationing…

…and he just did.

“I know some of my Democratic colleagues had been thinking about ways to, in effect, get around the results by working in various parliamentary ways, looking at the rules, trying to get a health care bill passed that would have been the same bill that would have passed if [MA AG] Martha Coakley [D] had won, and I think that’s a mistake,” Frank said. “I will not support an effort to push through a House-Senate compromise bill despite an election. I’m disappointed in how it came out, but I think electoral results have to be respected.”

And if you’re wondering why Barney Frank did this, it’s because he can read a map.He’s the only member of the MA Congressional delegation whose district went completely for Coakley [UPDATE: Actually, no, that was Capuano’s district.  OTOH, Rep. Frank is one of the safest Members of Congress right now, so the point fortunately still stands], and at least two of them are personally sweating the election results right now – so if anybody’s going to be taking the lead in walking back from the precipice, it should be the guy who can take the hit and still be favored to keep his seat in November.  Mildly disappointing, from a Republican point of view… but killing this abomination of a health care bill is the best thing for the country, which of course should be our paramount concern.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Gooooooood MORNING, Massachusetts Members of Congress!

Did you SLEEP well?

[UPDATE: Jove nods: I switched out Frank and Caputo.  My bad, and thanks to reader jack for pointing it out.  The basic point remains.]

Hi, John Olver!
Hi, Richard Neal!
Hi, Jim McGovern!
Yeah, hi, Barney Frank. [UPDATE: Excuse me, that’s Barney Frank]
Hi, Niki Tsongas!
Hi, John F. Tierney!
Hi, Ed Markey!
Hi, Michael Capuano! [Michael Capuano.]
Hi, Stephen Lynch!
Hi, William Delahunt!

…Why the colors?  Because of this map, of course:

…Members of Congress who have towns whose voters went for Scott Brown are in red; Barney Frank (who is blessed with a Boston district) is in blue.  They’re all Democrats, so no need to distinguish there.  Interesting, huh?  And it makes me want to ask a couple of questions:

  1. How do the people on that list really feel about the current health care bill in the Senate?  More importantly, how do they think that their constituents feel about it?
  2. Do they really think that it’s appropriate for Senators Schumer (D-NY) and Kerry (D-MA) to use crude sexual imagery when referring to their constituents?  Particularly the ones that are really, really motivated to vote?

I think that these are questions that really should be answered.  Soon.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Redstate.

Gov Deval Patrick (D, MA) just gave the GOP three more House seats.

And I’m blaming the Governor for this one because I find it inconceivable that he would have let his subordinates set policy in such a nakedly partisan fashion without him first signing off on it.  Apparently the Democratic party just doesn’t care how many ‘moderate’ Democrats have to have their careers sacrificed to the leadership’s ambitions.   I don’t know where we’ll use this development – yet – but if you think that we’re not going to use this (win or lose):

The U.S. Senate ultimately will schedule the swearing-in of Kirk’s successor, but not until the state certifies the election.

Today, a spokesman for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, who is overseeing the election but did not respond to a call seeking comment, said certification of the Jan. 19 election by the Governor’s Council would take a while.

“Because it’s a federal election,” spokesman Brian McNiff said. “We’d have to wait 10 days for absentee and military ballots to come in.”

Another source told the Herald that Galvin’s office has said the election won’t be certified until Feb. 20 – well after the president’s address.

Since the U.S. Senate doesn’t meet again in formal session until Jan. 20, Bay State voters will have made their decision before a vote on health-care reform could be held. But Kirk and Galvin’s office said today a victorious Brown would be left in limbo.

In contrast, Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) was sworn in at the U.S. House of Representatives on Oct. 18, 2007, just two days after winning a special election to replace Martin Meehan. In that case, Tsongas made it to Capitol Hill in time to override a presidential veto of the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

…to hammer home the point that Democrats Lie, think again.  The ads write themselves, and even should Coakley win the speed with which she’ll be installed will still let us run those ads.  And she would be installed speedily: her party’s leadership doesn’t just lie.  It assumes that the electorate is dumb, too.

It’s not, by the way.

Moe Lane

PS: That SCHIP veto wasn’t actually overturned, by the way.

Crossposted to RedState.

How dare they, Jack Cafferty?

As in, why is the Democratic party blatantly breaking numerous campaign promises about openness and transparency by hiding the final negotiations over the health care rationing bill?

Easy. Because you let them.

Moe Lane

PS: Elections have consequences, Jack Cafferty. Don’t even pretend to be outraged on my behalf: I knew that this was going to happen all along, which is why I voted for the other guy.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

Do progressive Democrats play poker?

I mean, have they played enough of it to know of the old saying If you’ve been playing cards for a half-hour and you still don’t know who the dummy is, it’s you?

Progressives pressure Sanders, Feingold on public option reform

“Bernie Sanders can be a hero at this historic moment by declaring that any final bill must have a public option to win his support,” said PCCC co-foudner Adam Green. “That would change the entire calculus in House-Senate negotiations and force President Obama to finally fight back against Joe Lieberman’s threats.”

What? No, I was just idly curious.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Rep. Clyburn abandons public option on behalf of Democratic party.

Here we go.

The House’s third-ranking Democrat said Sunday that he can support a healthcare reform bill without a public option.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) — a proponent of a government-run public plan — said that he could back the bill as long as it creates more choice and competition in the insurance industry and reduces costs. “It’s of no consequence” whether it’s done via the public option or not.

(H/T: Hot Air Headlines) Translation: House Democrats are going to abandon the public option. Ignore the nonsense about more choice and reduced costs: that’s for the rubes and the netroots. They went with the #3 House Democrat to make the announcement because both Pelosi and Hoyer want to appear to be reluctantly going along with this, instead of enthusiastically: if the endgame ends up reminding you of their FISA ‘capitulation,’ well, there’s a reason for that.  Anyway, this is probably back on track for being settled by the State of the Union address.  In fact, they’re probably right now working out how many liberal House members can vote ‘no’ on the bill and still get it to pass.

I’d be offended at the Democratic leadership’s upcoming betrayal of their own (loudly stated) principles, if only I believed that they had them in the first place.  As I didn’t and don’t, the best that I can muster is a slightly cynical moue of distaste.  And that’s only because I’ve never gotten to use the word ‘moue’ in a post before.

Moe Lane

PS: The final language on federal funding on abortion will be at whatever point between Stupak’s and the Senate’s version that will cause the NRLC to stop threatening to score the final vote.  If that call hasn’t been made yet, it will be.

Crossposted to RedState.