Today in Washington, D.C. - Feb 25, 2010 - The Blair House Healthcare Show!

Yesterday, the Senate voted 62-34 to waive pay-as-you-go rules for Democrats’ $15 billion jobs bill (H.R. 2847) and then voted to approve the bill 70-28.

Today, the Senate resumed consideration of the House message to accompany H.R. 1299, the vehicle for Majority Leader Harry Reid’s tourism promotion bill . A cloture vote could happen Friday morning unless agreement is reached to vote this afternoon.  However, the real activity is over at  Blair House Healthcare Summit where the President, Senators and Representatives are meeting to discuss publicly their positions on healthcare.  However the statements before this meeting identify that the Democrat agenda is already determined.

As Republicans and Democrats gather for a health care summit, it’s revealing to look at the attitudes Democrats seem to be taking in to the summit compared to those of the American people.   According to Politico’s Playbook this morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says today, “[I]naction and incrementalism are simply unacceptable.” But a CNN poll this week finds that “48 percent [of Americans say] lawmakers should work on an entirely new bill and a quarter [say] Congress should stop all work on health care reform.” That’s 73% saying Congress should start over on health care reform or stop altogether.  Yet Speaker Pelosi has deemed these views “unacceptable.”

Last night, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), who helped write the Senate Democrats’ health care bill, told a rally, “[A]fter that meeting, you can either join us or get out of the way.” That sounds a lot like Democrats are readying to jam through a bill via the partisan reconciliation process. But USA Today and Gallup asked Americans about this in a poll and found that 52% oppose such a move and only 39% support it.

In an op-ed today, House Republican Leader John Boehner gets to the key question, writing, “For all the ink spilled over Thursday’s health care summit, it really boils down to one question: Who is listening to the American people?” Boehner explains, “Americans want Washington to scrap this job-killing government takeover of health care and start over with a step-by-step approach that will lower health care costs. That’s not the ‘Republican’ view. It’s the view of the American people.”

As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier this week, “Americans don’t want to be told what’s best for them. They call the shots. And what they’re telling lawmakers in Washington to do on health care is to stop and to start over.”  So will Democrats decide they want to listen to the American people, or will they declare Americans’ views on health care reform “unacceptable” and tell them to “either join us or get out of the way”?

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