Breaking News: Olympia Snowe Will Vote Yes

Republican Senator Olympia Snowe has announced that she will vote yes to bring the Senate Finance Committee health care reform bill to the floor for a vote. While this is good news in the name of bipartisanship I am a little worried that she might have been bought off. But we will see eventually when we get a look at the final bill.

BTW I expect Snowe may end up changing parties very soon. No way the GOP allows her to stay after this.

AHIP's Slip Is Showing

I am not a fan of the Senate Finance committee's version of a health care reform bill but AHIP's transparently dishonest attempt to discredit it gives me even more reason to believe that health care reform will get done this year. Now the question is will how much of it will be REAL reform?

The Baucus Bill Gets A Score

The results of the CBO scoring of the Senate Finance Committee health care reform bill are in. The numbers seem to line up with the framework President Obama asked for but as most of us know the devil is in the details. But the good thing is because the numbers look good on paper it is very likely that the bill itself will get voted out of committee. And that means we still have a fighting chance of getting health care done this year and with a public option when the two Senate bills merge and then when that amalgamation merges with the House bill. So this is still a move forward to everyone fighting for real health care reform. Now its time for the rubber to hit the road and for the progressives and liberal leaders in both houses of Congress to stand up and lead on the issue.

The Reply I Was Hoping For

Twice today in the Senate Finance committee debate over public option amendments Max Baucus hid behind the threat of a filibuster in order to cast a nay vote. I could understand Jay Rockerfeller and Chuck Schumer being caught flat footed the first time he took that tact. But the second time when Max Baucus said words to the effect of "I can count and we don't have 60 votes with a public option in the bill", this simple reply would have turned the argument on it's head.

"Respectfully Mr Chairman, you don't have 60 votes without it"

Those 9 little words would have probably thrown t he proceedings into an uproar and the lead this evening would have been about how serious most Democrats are about having a robust public option. If Baucus wants to grand stand about filibusters then its time to remind him that there are Democrats who are unwilling to vote for cloture for a bill without a public option. The math is clear, if even one, yes one single solitary Democrat in the Senate says they will not for a bill that doesn't include a public option then the bill will never get an up and down vote and bigger than that, assholes like Baucus and Conrad will HAVE to start taking them seriously along with President Obama and the White House.

So the question remains, is there such a Democrat with enough courage to take a stand and say no public option no yea vote? That's what we need to find out!

Max Baucus Is A Pussy!

Allow me to paraphrase what Max Baucus just said in closing of the Senate Finance Committee hearing on Jay Rockerfeller's public option amendment:

It is my job to get a bill through with 60 votes and because nobody has proved to me that a bill with a public option in it can get 60 votes I must vote against it.

What a sorry assed coward muthafucka. If Rockerfeller's amendment loses by one vote I can promise you that with every little bit of power I wield I am going to put all my efforts into making sure this is Baucus' last term. I don't give a damn if a Republican beats him. If it takes digging up dirt, contributing money, leaving comments on Montana blogs, I don't give a damn. How in the hell can any real leader say its their job to vote against the interests of the American people because they are scared of losing???

Judgement Day

I can't wait to hear the Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee who are against a public option try to explain why today when two public option amendments come up. I hope Jay Rockerfeller and Chuck Schumer both hold their feet to the fire and make them announce to the world that they are more concerned with the health insurance companies than Americans who can't afford health insurance.


Stay tuned for updates throughout the day...

More Of This Please

I don't know what has gotten into Jello Jay but I hope he keeps eating it for breakfast.

Playa Please

I don't have much to add to what Steve Benen has to say about Chuck Grassley's insane and unserious assertation that all the Gang of Six needed was a couple of more weeks to get broad bipartisan support for the Senate Finance health care reform bill and that, get this, he resents how the White House has treated him.

Oh and Greg Sargent puts his jackassery in terms even a kid could understand.

It can not be repeated enough, THIS is the guy that Max Baucus decided it was worthwhile to negotiate with on health care reform rather than using the full Senate Finance committee.

EPIC FAIL

Jello Jay Comes Out Swinging

If Jay Rockefeller holds his ground against Max Baucus' Senate Finance committee health care bill we might just have to drop "jello" from his nickname:

Senator Jay Rockefeller, speaking Tuesday afternoon on a conference call co-sponsored with the Campaign for America's Future:

I have sat besides Max Baucus for 22 years on the Finance Committee. ... I'm probably one of his best friend among Democrats. But I cannot agree with him on this bill. ... There is no way in present form I will vote for it. Therefore, I will not vote for it unless it changes during the amendment process by vast amounts.

Rockefeller cited four main concerns: The lack of a public insurance option, changes to Medicaid, changes to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and overall affordability provisions. He did caution that he reserved the right to change judgments once the final bill comes out, although it's unlikely that bill will look much different than what Baucus has already released.

Later in the call, Rockefeller suggested four to six Demorats on the Finance Committee had similar feelings, although he didn't say (and may not know) whether they feel as strongly as he does.

Now to be sure its not clear that Senator Rockefeller will actually vote against the bill in its final form. But if it does his street cred will go up many times over in my book!

Co Ops Vs The Public Option

I know a lot of people are going to spend time debating the merits of a co op system that Kent Conrad has proposed versus a public option that Democrats in 4 out of 5 Congressional committees have proposed but I really think its a useless and pointless conversation. I will admit up front that I am not a policy wonk on the level of an Ezra Klein or a Rachel Maddow, not even close. That doesn't mean policy doesn't matter to me, it surely does. And I try to study up on all the issues. But I just have quite aways to go before I learn about every intricate detail of health care reform.

Having said that, my area of interest is usually the politics of any given issue. And its because of the politics of the situation that I feel confident in saying that there won't be an co op in a final version of the bill. Here is why. For a bill to make it to the floor of the Senate first you have to get the Senate Finance bill out of committee. Now we can all assume at this point that the Finance bill will have a co op in it. But what we can't assume is that the Republicans who have been negotiating with Baucus will actually vote for the bill to come out of committee. So what I forsee is that even after all the hand wringing and wrangling, neither Mike Enzi nor Chuck Grassley will vote for the bill to come out of committee.

That's strike one.

At that point I imagine it will still come out of committee on a largely partisan vote maybe picking off one Republican vote. At that point it will come to the floor of the Senate. Now when that happens there will be a process to have amendments added. I expect that there will be a Republican amendment offered to strip the bill of the co ops. I don't think it will pass but I do think it will be close.

That's strike two.

Then when that process is done the bill still has to be voted on by the full Senate. I can't see a scenario where there will be any more than 3 or 4 Republican votes for the bill at that point. And I don't think any of those 3 or 4 votes will come from Enzi or Grassley.

That's strike three.

At that point Republicans will have shown no less than three times that they are not going to support the bill no matter what concessions are made. And its at that point that Democratic Senate leadership would have to go into conference talks with House Democratic leadership to come up with a final bill. They will have no leverage at all to try to replace a public option with a co op when the Republicans will have revealed themselves. And bigger than that it won't be Max Baucus and Kent Conrad in the room doing the negotiating. I also believe that President Obama will have weighed in at that point that he will not accept a bill without a public option.

So to sum it all up, even if the Finance committee comes out with a bill that includes a co op instead of a public option, Republicans will not support it, and in light of that it will be dead on arrival when its time to reconcile the House and Senate bills.

Now I realize in the meantime there will be a lot of moaning and groaning over this issue but its not really even worth the waste of time and energy. We should definitely be pushing our Senators to support a public option and for our progressives and liberals in the House not to cave on the issue. But its clear to me that co ops just aren't politically viable. You can book mark this post and come back and point and laugh at me if I am ultimately proves wrong, but I really don't think I will be.

Update: Ezra Klein makes a pretty similar point about the process but with a lot more literary skill than I could muster. Go check it out.

If This Isn't The Final Straw I Don't Know What Is

Check out Republican Senator Chuck Grassley on MSNBC earlier today. Specifically go to he 7:10 mark and pay close attention to what he says.



That's right ladies and gentlemen, Grassly, who has a seat at the table thanks ot Captain Incompetent, Max Baucus, is now saying that even if he gets what he is looking for in a health care reform bill, he will STILL vote against the bill unless more than a handful of Republicans vote for it. Mind you we already know that the Republicans have long said that not only will they not vote for health care form, but also that they wouldn't even particicpate in the process of formulating a bill at all.

So there you have it from the horses' mouth. The top Republican negotiator for health care reform in the Senate Finance committee is telling everyone that no matter how much he is appeased he will not vote for the bill.

If there was ever a time to ram something down the Republicans' throats its now. To hell with the lot of them. Make the health care reform bill as liberal as possible and then get it signed sealed and delivered to the American people. Any thing else is going to be counterproductive.

President Obama Draws A Line In The Sand (sorta)

Well looky looky. It appears that President Obama is sending a pretty clear message that the Senate Finance committee better get to work because bipartisanship might die in September. I LOVE this. I hope he sticks to his guns too when the time comes. Obama has to show that he isnt' bluffing when he makes these kinds of pronouncements.

Whose Your Daddy?

Check out Republican Senator John Kyl trying to punk Democratic Senator and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus:

The September 15th deadline for a bipartisan healthcare bill isn't likely to be honored, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) predicted Tuesday.

Kyl attempted to call a bluff by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who said last week that if he hadn't reached a consensus with Republicans by mid-September, he would force a bill through without Republican support.

"He's set several other deadlines too, and he hasn't been able to meet them," Kyl said. "And I worry a little bit that by setting that deadline he could be setting himself up for not the best situation — let's put it that way."

Kyl hinted that Republicans would make life politically tough for Democrats if they force through a healthcare bill on a party line vote.

Now the question is will Baucus end up being the GOP's bitch this fall? I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Frog, Meet Scorpions

BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I just LOVE that Max Baucus comes out of this looking like the worlds biggest chump. Thats what his "centrist" ass gets for trusting Republicans yet again. Can somebody send this jackass the story of the scorpion and the frog?

(CNN) — Two of the three Senate Republicans negotiating a bipartisan deal on health care reform said they consider an agreement out of reach before the Senate goes on its August recess.

That likely dashes the hopes of Democratic leaders and President Barack Obama for a deal among the so-called Gang of Six negotiators that could deliver critical momentum for the stalled health care overhaul.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyoming, dropped the bombshell news to CNN and two other reporters in Capitol hallways Wednesday night. They have spent weeks behind closed doors, trying to hammer out an agreement with their Democratic counterparts on the Senate Finance Committee but said too many issues remain unresolved, making it virtually impossible for them to sign on to a deal before the break.

“There are a lot of tough decisions to make and they aren’t going to be made real quickly,” Grassley said late Wednesday when asked whether negotiators should kick their talks over to September.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, had already postponed Senate floor action on health care legislation until the fall, but Democrats had hoped the Senate Finance Committee could finish its work before the summer break. In fact, one senior Democratic source said meeting that deadline was the central thrust of the president’s meeting with Reid and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, last Friday.

snip

Enzi, who spoke while leaving the Capitol on Wednesday night, echoed Grassley’s desire for more time before he’d agree to a deal.

“We have huge parts that have not been discussed yet. We have other parts that we asked questions on that we haven’t gotten answer back yet. I don’t know how we make decisions on those parts — they’re pretty big issues,” Enzi said.

“You can’t say you got to do it in a week, you got to do it in a month,” he said. “You got to do it in the amount of time it takes.”

Enzi, a soft-spoken conservative, was furious about headlines Wednesday morning that suggested he was close to reaching a deal with the Democrats.

“I felt my reputation was in danger,” he said.

He issued a statement batting down the stories and insisted any deal he might ultimately sign onto would have to be preserved by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Reid when it is merged with other more liberal legislation in the Senate and House.

“I’m not interested in lending credibility to disaster,” Enzi said.

See for Senator Enzi, its all about his "reputation". You stupid muthafucka you Baucus. Hopefully this teaches you a lesson and we can drop this charade and get shit done now!