NYT: Dems Slam Brakes on Health Care Overhaul

[flpoljunkie]

PASS. THE DAMN. BILL. Until then, I will be 'freezing' all contributions to the Democratic party--the DNC, the DCCC and, most particularly, the DSCC.

January 27, 2010
Democrats Slam Brakes on Health Care Overhaul

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN and ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON — With no clear path forward on major health care legislation, Democratic leaders in Congress effectively slammed the brakes on President Obama’s top domestic priority on Tuesday, saying that they no longer felt pressure to move quickly on a health bill after eight months of setting deadlines and missing them.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, deflected questions about health care. “We’re not on health care now,” he said. “We’ve talked a lot about it in the past.” He added, “There is no rush,” and noted that Congress still had most of this year to work on the health bills passed in 2009 by the Senate and the House.

Mr. Reid said that he and the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, were working to map out a way to complete a health care overhaul in coming months. “There are a number of options being discussed,” Mr. Reid said, emphasizing “procedural aspects” of the issue.

At the same time, two centrist Democratic senators who are up for re-election this year, Blanche L. Lincoln of Arkansas and Evan Bayh of Indiana, said that they would resist efforts to muscle through a health care bill using a parliamentary tactic called budget reconciliation, which seemed to be the simplest way to advance the measure.

The White House has said in recent days that it would support that approach.

Some Democrats said that they did not expect any action on health care legislation until late February at earliest, perhaps after Congress returns from a weeklong recess. But the Democrats stand to lose momentum, and every day closer to the November election that the issue remains unresolved may reduce the chances of passing a far-reaching bill.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/health/policy/27health.html?hp

[ProSense]

1. This title is bogus. n/t

[depakid]

2. See ya Blanche! See ya Harry!

:hi:

Two individuals the party will be far better off without next year.

[Teaser]

3. story is not correct

Greg Sargent at the plumline blow says talks are ongoing:

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/happy-hour-roundup-151/#comment-166512


read the story. The quotes are all from different context. The writer is trying to weave a story out of it.

[flpoljunkie]

5. I sincerely hope Greg Sargent's right. We will see.

[Teaser]

7. He has been more plugged in than the Times on this

and has broken many stories in the last week.

The Times article doesn't have anything more than a one-off quote from Harry Reid read out-of-context and some kvetching by the usual trio of Senate suspects.

Thinking about why Bayh and Lincoln are opening their mouths is more instructive. They clearly don't want this bill to pass into law, in spite of their votes. If the reconciliation sidecar fix wasn't evolving, they wouldn't be speaking out against it. They wouldn't need to...it would die on its own. That they are trying to derail it tells me it has some momentum. Fortunately, their being against something doesn't matter, though, as this would be a purely majority rule vote.

[flpoljunkie]

9. Your explanation intriguing. Hope you're right!

[Jennicut]

11. I think you are totally correct on this.

Now we just need to find out if we have 50 in the Senate (plus Biden).

[liberalpragmatist]

4. Article has no new information and is a stretch

It's two reporters trying to create a story by weaving together a bunch of earlier statements made throughout today and yesterday.

Now, it's true that health care is "paused" at the moment, and in truth I give it no more than a 50-50 chance at resuscitation.

But the article itself doesn't really support that point. All the quotes it gives are from earlier in the day and they ignore plenty of sources indicating movement towards sidecar reconciliation, i.e. Podesta, Hoyer, Clyburn, Kerry, etc.

[Political Heretic]

6. Tragically, this is good news for working families in the long run

It's unfortunate that, thanks to corporate capitulation, backroom deals with major industries, and hundreds of pages of exceptions and loopholes that left insurance lobbyist cheering in glee, the Senate Bill will do more harm to American working families in the long run.

Subsidies for insurance to those who need assistance in paying for it were slashed and are completely insufficient to meet the criteria of "affordable" for millions of individuals and families. Out of pocket-costs were capped with the approval of the Insurance industry - resulting in annual limits so laughably high that working families would go to bed after health reform just like they went to be before health reform: praying to god that they never got seriously sick because they couldn't afford it.

With the final push to leave major regulatory decisions and responsibilities to states, half a America living in conservative governed states would continue to be shut out of quality, affordable care as per usual. Everyone looked the other way when the elderly and persons with special "preexisting conditions" could still be charged three times as much as everyone else. That's not "affordable."

There are no - zero - regulatory limits on what insurance companies can charge for their premiums, only the "hopes" of lawmakers that insurance companies act in the best interests of the country after being given a captive market of 100% of America. Why more people aren't laughing in the faces of anyone who says that out loud is beyond me.

The Senate Bill does harm to Americans. It does not help. It does not make things better for working class families. The first rule of crafting legislation ought to be "Do no harm." And this bill does harm to the very people who are most vulnerable.

Just because it is heartbreaking to have no health reform after coming so close, doesn't mean we should stupidly support a bill that makes health care worse for working families in this country. That would be the most tragic insult of all.

Democrats can take pieces of this bill that our sound and pass them one by one. But if we're asked to support the full Senate Bill unchanged, the answer from every responsible, alert, informed American should be, "No."

[ProSense]

8. "Democrats can take pieces of this bill that our sound and pass them one by one."

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) rejected this path, telling the Politico that he does not support the reconciliation process and that the health care bill should be broken up and voted on “a piece at a time, as opposed to a comprehensive approach.”

Not a good idea.

more

[Political Heretic]

10. It's not that its a good idea. Its that its the only alternative left to a bill that harms people

[OwnedByFerrets]

12. "The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, deflected questions about health care.

What the FUCK are you working on Harry?