Tomorrow, the Senate is expected to take up the health care reconciliation bill, H.R. 4872. Prior to the end of the week, the Senate will likely take up another short-term extension of unemployment insurance.
As we all now kn ow, late last night, a bare partisan majority of House Democrats, over bipartisan opposition, voted to pass their $2.5 trillion health care takeover, clearing it to be signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday. Democrats plowed ahead despite overwhelming public opposition, protests at the Capitol building, and their own acknowledgements of the flaws in the bill.
In a must-read editorial today, the Chicago Tribune writes, “Muscling this bill to President Barack Obama sets up the Democrats for affirmation — or condemnation — when citizens get their vote, on Nov. 2. This legislation has cleaved America, and whatever happens next, the Democrats own it. No major entitlement program has become law in such partisan fashion. . . . Not this time. Sunday night’s voting in the House, like that Dec. 24 action in the Senate, had Democrats unilaterally in charge — and voting against the wishes of a majority of Americans.”
CNN just came out with a poll taken over the weekend on health care. CNN, a media biased fan of Obama, is late as usual but it was kind of hard for them to hide the numbers. Other polls below support the same position. It is evident that Americans still aren’t buying the claims of President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid on this monstrosity of a health care bill:
- 59% oppose the Democrats’ health care bill, while only 39% favor it
- 70% say the federal budget deficit will go up under the Democrats’ health care bill; only 12% believe it will go down
- 56% say the bill creates “too much government involvement in the nation's health care system,” 28% say about the right amount, while 16% say not enough
- 62% say they'll pay more for medical care under the Democrats’ health care bill
- 47% say they and their families will be worse off under the Democrats’ health care bill; 33% say things will be about the same, and only 19% think they’ll be better off
- 45% say seniors on Medicare will be worse off; 34% say things will be about the same, and only 20% think they’ll be better off.
At this time last year, President Obama had a 64% approval rating in the Gallup daily tracking poll. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found last April that 33% said Obama’s health care plan was a good idea, 26% said it was a bad idea, and 34% were undecided.
Today, Politico has a front-page story titled, “Some Dems walk plank with ‘yes’ vote.” The Washington Post’s Dan Balz has a piece titled “Historic win or not, Democrats could pay a price” today. Balz writes, “The lengthy and rancorous debate has inflicted considerable damage on the president and his party. . . . The issue now is whether final passage of the legislation . . . will cause more harm or begin a turnaround in the Democrats’ fortunes heading toward the November midterm elections. This is not how the struggle over health care was supposed to unfold.”
In the polls, last week for the first time, the Gallup daily tacking poll showed more disapproving of Obama than approving. Of the people undecided on health care reform in the April 2009 NBC/WSJ poll, 90% now oppose the president’s bill. And according to a new CBS News poll today, “As has been the case throughout the health care debate, more Americans think the reform bill will hurt them (35%) than say it will help them personally (20%).” Further, CBS notes, “37% said the reforms will hurt them personally, while only 17% said they will help.”
As Democrats begin the partisan reconciliation process in the Senate this week, it’s important to keep in mind why Democrats are forced to use reconciliation: the health care bill that passed on Christmas Eve could not pass the chamber again. Much of the reason for that is the election of Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts on a platform of opposing that bill. His amazing victory likely would not have been possible without the huge shift in public attitudes against Democrats’ health care plans.
There’s still more work to be done, though. While Democrats passed the flawed Senate health care bill last night, these same Democrats will now spend the week trying to jam through the Senate a reconciliation bill that would make the health reform measure even worse. The changes mean even deeper cuts to Medicare, even more tax increases, and even more special deals that helped secure passage in the House of Representatives last night. We look to Senate Republicans to vigorously oppose all of these situation.
Tags: government healthcare, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C., polls, Democrats, socialized health care
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