With last night’s release of a Congressional Budget Office score on the amended health care reform bill that Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) is pushing through the Senate Finance Committee, Democrats are crowing about renewed momentum on health care and touting Baucus’ bill as a great step forward. However, there are important things to keep in mind about the Finance Committee bill and the entire health care reform process that Democrats have set up.
First, as Sen. Mitch McConnell pointed out this morning, the bill “has as its foundation a trillion dollars in spending, half a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicare, higher premiums, higher taxes on just about everyone at a time of near double-digit unemployment, and limits on the health care choices that millions of Americans now enjoy.” As for the CBO score, “It’s irrelevant. The bill it’s referring to will never see the light of day. . . . This partisan Finance Committee proposal will never see the Senate floor since the real bill will be written by Democrat leaders in a closed-to-the-public conference room somewhere in the Capitol.”
Indeed, The New York Times reported last week that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will be leading the effort to write a new bill, melded from the Finance Committee bill, and the one passed by the HELP Committee in July. According to the NYT, “Top Democratic staff members from the two committees have already begun meeting with Mr. Reid’s closest aides. Once the bills are melded together, Mr. Reid will bring the legislation to the floor, perhaps by mid-October.” Politico noted yesterday, “Reid has decided to keep the group intimate, limiting entree to Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT); Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CN), who ushered the bill through the Senate health committee; and top White House aides, according to a Senate leadership source. . . . ‘Everybody wants to be in,” said a senior Senate Democratic aide. “It’s where all the action is happening.’” So now, we have White House aides performing Congressional actions - so much for separation of powers and representation of the the American people by their elected Congressional members.
And this leaves aside the numerous problems with the Baucus proposal itself. The AP reported yesterday, “The Joint Committee on Taxation says drug companies, medical device manufacturers and insurers would pay $121 billion over 10 years as a result of taxes in the Senate Finance Committee bill.” Those taxes will be passed along to consumers. Further, The Washington Post reported last week, “The legislation the Senate Finance Committee is expected to approve this week calls for the biggest expansion of Medicaid since its creation in 1965.” That fact has generated a great deal of concern from Democrat and Republican governors alike, given that many states are struggling to close huge budget gaps as things currently stand.
And of course, some Democrat senators aren’t even sure they can support Baucus’ legislation because they don’t feel the over $800 billion bill is generous enough. Monday’s Washington Post reported, “At least two Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee have refused to pledge support for the health-care reform bill scheduled for a vote this week . . . . Although Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) said he has the votes to pass the 10-year, $900 billion bill out of the committee, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV) remained undecided Sunday.”
So Democrats are starting with two flawed pieces of legislation and will then be stitching them together behind closed doors. As Sen. McConnell put it, “the real bill will soon be cobbled together in a secret conference room somewhere in the Capitol by a handful of Democrat senators and White House officials.” And that’s why the CBO score that Democrats are so proud of today is really a farce and; much less consequential. than being touted in the press.
| Yesterday, Sen. Dick Durban showed his dismissive treatment of Democrats’ propensity to offer massive 1,000 page bills and then not give anyone time to read them. While Sen. Lamar Alexander talks about the problems with 1,000-page bills, specifically the problems with the 1,000-page health care bill, which would raise taxes, cut Medicare, reduce health care choices, and drive up the debt. [video]. |
| Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) complains that Republicans have expressed concerns about the size and complexity of health care legislation being written by Democrats. Reid ridicules the public's concern over Congress' recent trend of passing massive unread 1000 page+ bills. [video] |
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