Today in Washington D. C. - Oct 13, 2009

Update (1:20 pm): Senators voted 14-9 to approve passing out of the Senate Finance Committee the health care reform proposal. One Republican Sen Olympia Snowe (R-ME) voted yes. Otherwise, ALL committee democrats voted yes and the republicans voted no.  Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln and other formerly self-labeled "blue dogs" voted against the wishes of the majority of their constituents.  While in her home state, Lincoln made clearly demonstrated a deliberate effort not to listen to the" grassroots voters" in Arkansas.  Considering her vote today, she must have felt safe with over $4 million in her campaign coffers.  Many democrats arrogantly believe that voters will forget come next November's elections. After all the eventual bill will not go into effect until after 2012. Now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed has indicated that he will move the proposed finance committee bill behind closed doors where democrats will craft the final bill in secret.

Senate reconvenes at 2 PM today and will resume consideration of the fiscal year 2010 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill, H.R. 2847. The bill provides $65 billion in funds, including $7.3 billion for the Census Bureau. At 5:30 PM, a vote is scheduled on cloture on the substitute amendment for the CJS bill. In addition, the Senate Finance Committee resumed its markup of committee chairman Max Baucus’ (D-MT) health care bill. A vote on the amended draft language is expected later this afternoon.

A new analysis from respected accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers that was released yesterday found that the health care reform proposal being pushed through the Senate Finance Committee today by Democrats would raise premiums for private health insurance coverage.

The Wall Street Journal notes today, “Among other things, the report said a family health-insurance policy that costs $12,300 today would increase to $25,900 on average by 2019 under the bill, more than under current law.”  The AP identified, “The study projects that the legislation would add $1,700 a year to the cost of family coverage in 2013, when most of the major provisions of the Baucus bill would be in effect. Premiums for a single person would go up by $600 more than would be the case without the legislation, it estimated. In 10 years' time, premiums would be $4,000 higher for a family plan, and $1,500 more for individual coverage.”

Reacting to the new report, Republican leadership responded: “Higher premiums, higher taxes, and more government—that’s not reform. But that’s precisely what the American people, the Congressional Budget Office and now outside experts have identified with this trillion-dollar experiment that cuts Medicare, raises taxes and premiums, and threatens the health care options that millions of Americans enjoy.”

Today's AP says that Democrats are scrambling to attack the report. Assaults came from the White House, Democrat members of Congress, especially Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), and from the AARP, which claims it has not endorsed any health reform bill.  According to The Wall Street Journal, Rockefeller “said the report was ‘misleading and harmful,’ and represented ‘politicking for corporate gain at its worst.’”Clearly Democrats are concerned that the report shows their reforms would negatively impact the health coverage many families currently have, despite their assurances otherwise.

Sen. McConnell said to Fox’s Neil Cavuto, “I think we ought to listen to the American people, rather than trying to jam something through with the narrowest of margins in order to give any administration a victory. This is not about the administration. This is about the issue. . . . I don't think a half-trillion dollars in Medicare cuts, $400 billion in new taxes, and driving up the cost of insurance premiums is the way to go.”

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