Pelosi Should Have Pulled a Reid and Been BOLD (bumped)
29 October 2009 6:07 am by texan4hillary
Diary bumped from 2:29 a.m.
http://tinyurl.com/ykx2jm4
Today was a very bitter defeat for progressives on the Hill and will be more so for the average American in the years ahead. Pelosi says she doesn’t have the votes for the Medicare plus 5 option- one big insurance doesn’t want because it would actually be very competitive with them. Instead the House leaders went with the Blue Crossers and picked the more costly weaker pub opt-negotiated rates. So we will negotiate rates with drs etc based on a inflating medical care cost system. Doesn’t make much sense at all.
The original idea by Hacker was to have a Medicare PO that would expand in competition with private insurance. Hacker says this deal wont do much for the people at all. CPC leadership is infuriated. After giving up so much now the Medicare PO is likely scrapped because big insurance and big phrama don’t want it. Woolsey wanted a robust PO in the bill and force those reps to either vote for reform with the Medicare po or be the ones to stop it. She bet they would vote reform and for history.
By compromising the compromise again by not putting the Robust PO in the bill despite being short a few votes progressives are very cool to this whole package. The progressives are always expected to sacrifice. It even looks like the Kucinich amendment which would allow states to try single payer will be eliminated.
So what do progressives get here? Not a real competitive PO. Not a PO to compete for INDIVIDUAL CHOICE. And no ability for single payer to flower anywhere if this bill becomes ERISA law. The only good thing is the house did not put the opt out in it- but it may get a floor amendment.
Progressives have finally been invited to the WH after being cool to the deal after it was “settled.” SO the progs are coming a long way. Woolsey gets her chance to speak to Obama on all this mess. Should be a very lively meeting I would think after all these months. Progressives must try and hold on together on the Medicare PO for the good of the people. Chris Bowers on Openleft wonders if this bill can pass. After all the Tri Caucus has been adamant for a robust PO and better subsidies. Yeah forgot those subsidies- see with the weaker PO the bill costs much more than the Robust version. So cuts to subsidies will be made according to many reports.
Rep Grijalva vows to fight on to the floor. Woolsey says she cant back the compromise and plans to tell Obama so. Now it will be more imperative to expand the size of the PO to cover more. The bigger this PO can be the better it will be in lowering private rates. After calling dozens of members of Congress this was a bitter day for me and so many.
It is ridiculous that most Dems in the House back the robust PO but because they are a few votes short right now leadership will put in the weaker deal in for the people. 47 Dems blocked the majority of the caucus from doing what is right. Im glad Pelosi pushed like she did for the robust PO and hope even after this passes we can change the PO to Medicare and open the exchange. MORE BELOW INCLUDING INFO ON CONTROVERSIAL WHIP COUNT ON PO:
Rep Kucinich is fed up and asks- why have a 2 party system if Democrats wont stand for the people over big insurance companies?
Late on Wednesday Representative Kucinich put out a press release complaining that Democrats were compromising too much and warned that more compromises in the final bill would water the plan down ever more.
Congressman Kucinich noted that the Progressive Caucus has already compromised on single payer by backing a public option, and now we are being asked to compromise the public option with negotiated rates.” He goes to warn that “in conference, we will likely be asked to compromise negotiated rates with a trigger. In each and every step of the health care debate, the insurance companies have won. If they get hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxpayer subsidies, they get to raise their premiums, and increase their co pays and deductibles, while the public is forced to pay for private insurance, then the insurance companies win big.”
“If this is the best we can do, then it is time to ask ourselves whether the two-party system is truly capable of representing the American people or whether they system has been so compromised by special interests that we can’t even protect the health of our own people,” Kucinich said. “This is a moment of truth for the Democratic Party. Will we stand for the people or the insurance companies?”
Indeed that is the question.
http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/28/204245/01#commenttop
more at link
This post was submitted by texan4hillary.
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I’ll be *very* interested to hear what others think, as I’m not sure this is fair where Pelosi is concerned. Her caucus is much bigger and rowdier. Additionally, we haven’t seen how this will play out w/ Reid. At least it’s progressives who will bolt on Pelosi. With Reid it’s Lieberman, and the Blue Dogs like Bayh.
“Change we can believe in.” What a load of crap. “Yes we can!” Silly sloganeering. Just like the pipsqueak who occupied the WH before him, Obama is nothing but an MT suit. All hat. Guantanamo remains open. There are still 120,000 troops in Iraq. The war in Afghanistan is being escalated. The unemployment rate stands at 10%—a 17 year high. The economy is the worst it’s been in 50 years. The wealthy have more wealth than they have ever had. The poor are poorer than they have ever been. And all we get are words and more words from Obama’s mouth. Where’s the change? Happy days are here again. Brother, can you spare a dime? Peace
taylor i think pelosi did try. i giver her credit. i think progs will keep fighting for emdicare po bc its so popular with dems on hill and wildly with the nation. or so i think. after 2010 lots of these 47 dems who blocked the better po will be out of office anyway. the bill takes till 2013 to take effect so im in hopes progs will push for changes. of pelosi after all that still doesnt have the votes between handfuls of pissed libs and anti abortion dems. bowers isnt sure it can pass either way. if it does it will be by a few votes. wonder what cpc plans to tell obama when they finally meet today!
ok bill is better than sen. picks up more tabs on medciciad and expands it to 150 fpl-thats millions more than sen. prog taxes on rich to pay for it. anti trust with oversight regs. natl neg rate po-if we can opne it up more it will be better but more costly than robust.
This is just the first round of this health care debate, so I’m not going to get bent out of shape yet. The problem has always been, that when we all voted for Obama, we also voted all the same old Democrats who caved to Bush the last eight years back into office. We the voters only changed the man in the White House and let all the rats back in.
I’m surprised we got this to the floor of the house, and I’ll be even more surprised if anything close to the house bill gets to the floor of the Senate.
Until we clean house in the Democratic party, I think this will be the best we can hope for. Like Obama, this is a small step in the right direction. For us progressives the work is not done, until we have a true liberal Democratic party.
hey angels~
Have you been doing any reading about the new banking regulations? Check out Campaign for America’s website.I’m not sure we will have much of a country left for anyone to govern unless we can change things soon.
angels81 says:
29 October 2009 at 1:07 pm
The problem has always been, that when we all voted for Obama, we also voted all the same old Democrats who caved to Bush the last eight years back into office. We the voters only changed the man in the White House and let all the rats back in.
__
Good point but is this really true? Aren’t many of the newly elected members of Congress the problem?
I think you will find that many of the new members are from more conservative districts – otherwise how could the Democrats have picked up seats unless they got them from formerly Republican districts.
angels81 says:
29 October 2009 at 1:07 pm
I may be disappointed but you make sense to me. You’re the voice of reason I guess, angels.
angels81
I agree with lynette – I went back to read your comment again – and was reminded why I miss you when you don’t post.
And Angels…. What’s this about the redhead.. enquiring minds want to know..
the redhead is clearly the love of his life
I miss angels, too.
I think clearly this is a first step. Like that GREAT Native American Will Rogers said “I’m not a member of any organized politicol party…I’m a Democrat”
The problem and strength of our party is THAT we have vast differances amongst us and hash them out until we arrive at a consensus. We had eight years of the certainty of ignorance backed by a goose stepping majority in the house and senate to show us how dangerus blind obediance to DER LEADER can be. I’ll take this as a start thank you very much.
And Ms. Pelosi’s gravitas has risen by leaps and bounds in my eyes.
Thanks guys and gals, you make this old bad biker blush.
I’m really disappointed, not only in Congress but Obama, too, in that I think he really could have done more to push the Congress – but Howard Dean says let’s take it for now – that the House and Senate bills will make a difference. BUT… he said something I agree with – let’s open up whatever p.o. we get for 2010 so the voters will see some results, otherwise he thinks he Dems will get hurt in 2010. I tend to agree with him.