A Health Care Compromise That I Might Support

Josh over at TPM seems to think that at this point since Joe LIEberman is showing his ass that the best thing to do would be for the Democratic Leadership in the Senate to court Olympia Snowe again and instead try to get her vote. I don't necessarily disagree. I think its apparent at this point that Lieberman is just bullshitting and that he has no plans whatsoever to vote for cloture on a health care reform bill no matter what. Of course he said at the beginning of the process that he didn't think we needed health care reform so this really shouldn't surprise anyone.

But here is MY thing. If the Democrats want to put a trigger on a public option then I won't like it but under one circumstance I will hold my nose and support it. The public humiliation Joe Lieberman by stripping him of all his chairmanships and seniority at a very public press conference.

Not only would this be good policy, but good politics for the Democrats. Nobody can accuse them of banishing him because of purity tests. Remember he isn't actually a Democrat anyway AND he campaigned heavily for the Republican candidate for President last year. I was outraged from the get go that he was allowed to keep his chairmanships after all that and had no problem saying so. But at the time some good folks on the left kept telling me that it was all some great chess move by President Obama that would pay off in the long run.

Yeah, score one for me.

And I can promise you this much, liberals and progressives will not support a health care reform bill without a robust public option BUT kicking Lieberman's ass to the curb is very likely to fire up the base. Its time to drop the dead weight that is fucking up all our legislation. And overtly it can be a warning to the other jack asses in the me first caucus like Ben Nelson. Being a Democrat doesn't mean somebody has to agree with every single piece of legislation, but they for damn sure better not be standing in the way of up and down votes on legislation that has been on the Democratic platform for decades.

So Harry Reid, Rahm Emanuel, and the rest of you jackasses getting ready to sell the farm on health care reform for one Republican vote, just know that axing LIEberman, publicly and in a humiliating fashion just might soften the blow. Speaking strictly for myself of course.

The Public Option Compromise

I haven't posted much on health care reform or the public option lately because since the bill has been in the Senate I have had a running headache every day over all the bullshit. Well supposedly last night the gang of 10 asshole coalition of Senators came to some kind of compromise. I have no idea if this means the bill will now pass or if its just another case of Democrats negotiating away the best policies for nothing, but Ezra Klein has a write up about it so I figured I would link it. This whole process has me so pissed off that I can't see straight at times, but I can tell you this, there will be a fallout if Democrats pass a bullshit bill.

It is what it is.

Opt Outs?

This new proposal for a public option where by they would be set up nationally and then individual states could opt out of them if the so choose doesn't sound like a half bad compromise if one is needed to get it passed in the Senate inside health care reform. Policy wise I think its good because the public option would be set up universally across the board which to me would elevate its chances of success. And by taking an opt out approach then they can make the public option as robust as they want so the states that really want one aren't punished by those who don't.

But the real upside I see from this kind of compromise is political. As they say all politics is local and having an opt out clause will put quite a few Republican governors on the hot seat including those mulling presidential runs in 2012 or 2016. Obviously their wingnut base will be clamoring for them to opt out ASAP, but its going to be damn near impossible for Haley Barbour or Rick Perry or any other of those other Republican governors to face the residents of their state and tell them that they won't be able to get the same opportunity to have health insurance that residents of other states will have. Talk about an interparty implosion. I have a feeling that when push comes to shove many of those Republican governors will discover the propriety of being pro health care reform.

Also this should solve the problem of getting corporatist Democrats on board to vote for cloture as well. It takes the decision making out of their hand and so like the bought and paid for cowards that they all are they can pass the buck onto their state governments. As long as they have away to escape any blame I am sure they will be gung ho to support it.

So far this seems to just be a whisper i the wind without a whole lot of specifics but if and when it picks up steam I will definitely be keeping an eye on it.

Wheeling And Dealing

It looks like Henry Waxman is determined to get a health care reform bill out of committee in the House before the August break.

From Steve Benen:

A couple of months ago, the Washington Monthly ran a cover story on House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman that highlighted, among other things, the fact that the California Democrat knows "not only how to make a deal, but how to make the right one."

It's a skill that's been put to the test this week, and Waxman seem to have come through quite nicely.

As of yesterday, the committee chairman was struggling to get a health care reform bill out of his committee and onto the House floor. He had a deal with Blue Dogs that angered the left, and if Waxman pulled back to satisfy liberals' concerns, he'd lose the conservatives. After more discussions this morning, another compromise is reportedly in place.

Liberals and a small core of conservative Democrats set aside long-standing ideological differences early Friday to cut a deal that should allow the House Energy and Commerce Committee to approve a sweeping health care bill, breaking a two-week deadlock that threatened President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.

Blue Dog Democrats on the committee, who are the linchpin in the House health care debate, agreed to allow their liberal colleagues to cut billions from existing government-funded health care programs in order to restore some $50 billion to $65 billion in subsidies set aside in the bill to help middle-income families purchase coverage. [...]

Moderates and liberals on the committee will offer a package during committee consideration that will make changes the Blue Dogs secured in a deal with Waxman earlier this week. The amendment also includes a liberal priority: reducing premiums many uninsured people will be required to pay for health coverage. The change would lower the premium from 12 percent of a household's total annual income to 11 percent.

This middle-of-the-road approach should give both sides the cover they need to approve the overarching legislation.

Good on Waxman for finding a way forward. Now if we can just get Max Baucus to get off his ass and jettison the Republican obstructionists we might get some where.

I can tell you this much, if every other committee has voted out a bill except the Senate Finance committee, Baucus is going to feel the heat on his ass. And we should be the ones helping to apply it!

Update: And we finally have the bill out of committee. (apologies for the GOPolitico link)

Waxman FTW?

According to Talking Points Memo it appears that the Blue Dogs blinked after all.

Substantively, leadership seems to have given up very little, but, Blue Dogs succeeded at slow walking the bill, which won't get a vote until after the August recess.

After a week or so of canceled hearings, the Energy and Commerce Committee will continue to mark up House health care legislation this afternoon, and pass a bill by the end of the week. On substance, the exemption from penalties for small businesses that do not provide health care to workers has been raised to include small businesses with payrolls of $500,000 per year or less. Originally the bill called for the exemption to apply only to businesses with payrolls half that size.

The public option hasn't gone away, and remains in tact. Now, though, instead of being directly tied to Medicare, the rates will be negotiated by the Health and Human Services secretary--a provision which at a glance seems similar to the public option the Senate HELP Committee endorsed. States will be able to erect health care co-operatives if they choose, but that would be in addition to the public option.

The Blue Dogs managed to pull $100 billion in savings from the bill by lowering by one percent the rate at which people living between 300 and 400 percent of the poverty level will be subsidized to buy health care in insurance exchanges--they had originally tried to eliminate that bracket entirely.

Blue Dogs will likely herald this as a major victory, but compared to their original wishlist, this seems pretty minor.

Hopefully this is really the case and we will only have to worry about the asshattery going on in the Senate Finance Committee.

A Reminder That The Public Option Is A Compromise For Progressives

I think this should be shouted from the hilltops. Congresswoman Maxine Waters speaks a lot of truth to power in this interview on MSNBC. From how culpable Rahm Emanual is for the current state of negotiations after he recruited so many Blue Dogs, to the incoherent contradictions in the Blue Dogs' demands. But what she really hits on here is something that I feel like the liberals and progressives have done a horrible job of stressing.

The public option itself is a compromise for progressive Democrats.

The truth is we would MUCH rather have a single payer system which would both curb costs AND cover everybody. But because President Obama backed away from that on the campaign trail and because some of the Democratic leadership are simply too cowardly to put forward a bill that best helps accomplish the goals as set forth by President Obama.

But the debate has been framed almost from the start as between having a public option and not having one. That of course pulls everything about the debate right ward. Now part of this is the fault of progressives and liberals in Congress who don't get in front of the camera and argue our point of view. Leaving the fight for public opinion up to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid is just a foolish proposition. Mrs Waters and other progressives should be in front of the cameras every day pulling the debate back to the left. But for some reason they aren't and we all know that the Villagers prefer "centrist" ie "bought off" Democrats rather than liberal or progressive Democrats.

Can we have more of this please?

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President Obama dropping knowledge