(What ails Health Care, ails America.)
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Wanted: A Senate Health-Care Leader
The Democrat-versus-Democrat battle over Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus’s health care proposal is more than just political posturing: It’s the latest sign that Senate Democrats so far lack a clear public leader on the issue at a crucial time in the debate.
Part of the problem facing Senate Democrats is institutional; unlike the House, the Senate is a body that gives each member great power to influence the legislative process — significantly limiting the power of leaders. Another part of the problem is the sweeping nature of the issue: Health care reform falls into the jurisdiction of several House and Senate committees, putting far more cooks in the kitchen than on most other matters on Capitol Hill.
And part of the problem is personnel. In Sen. Ted Kennedy, Democrats had a man of “unusual influence for many reasons — his knowledge, his discipline, his friendships, his experience,” said Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.).
Without him, there are individual Democratic senators playing leading roles in certain parts of the debate, but no overall go-to guy — a figure who could serve as a trusted public leader on the issue, providing a clear argument for the bill across the airwaves and acting as the chief deal maker behind the scenes.
Baucus, a moderate who cut deals with President George W. Bush over Medicare legislation and tax cuts, has long been distrusted by his party’s liberals — and the thought of him leading the Senate on the biggest domestic issue in years is making the stomachs of some of them turn.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is trusted by his caucus, and he’s moving aggressively behind the scenes to soothe concerns of possible defectors. But in public, Reid, who faces a tough reelection next year, has taken a hands-off role as the bill works its way through the committee process — and has not driven the policy debate.
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who filled in for Kennedy this summer to draft a competing health care bill, now is turning more of his attention toward financial regulatory reform.
And while President Barack Obama has laid out his vision for health care reform, he’s allowing the Senate to fill in the details without offering a written plan himself — exposing the White House and the Democratic leadership to attacks that no one is really leading.
“It’s pretty hard to lead the Senate if you don’t get the leadership out of the White House,” said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).
With the health care bill now at a pivotal moment as Finance Committee deliberations start Tuesday, Senate Democratic leaders and the White House are working intensely behind the scenes to keep the Senate’s Democratic Caucus from fraying along ideological lines. The idea: Soothe concerns of wayward senators by hearing them out and assuring them that they will have ample opportunity to change the bill to their liking by allowing the process to advance.
Democratic senators who speak out against the process or seriously question the health care efforts can expect to hear from the president and their leadership.
When Sen. Jay Rockefeller issued a scathing critique of the Baucus bill last week, Reid called him by telephone almost immediately; soon after, the West Virginia Democrat was on his way to the White House for a one-on-one meeting with Obama. Rockefeller later seemed to take the edge off his critique of the bill.
“There are a lot of important discussions happening behind the scenes,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who sits on the Finance Committee.
At a private Democratic Caucus meeting last Thursday, Reid stood up and told his fellow Democratic senators that they need to be willing to compromise, pointing out that he had “never” introduced a bill that went into law with everything that he wanted.
“We have numbers, we have a president, therefore we have a responsibility” to get health care done this year, Reid said, according to a senator in the room.
And at the meeting, liberal Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) invoked a military phrase by saying that Democrats need to “fight or die” when it comes to pushing the health care bill, according to a person familiar with the account.
Emerging from the meeting, Democrats sounded confident that they had the same goal in mind.
“If you’d been sitting in this room just now, you’d be amazed how calm, optimistic and determined the entire caucus is to get this done,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).
Asked why Democrats didn’t seem on the same page publicly, she said, “It’s a work in progress,” citing the various legislative proposals — including the Senate Finance Committee bill and one developed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Indeed, Reid will take a much bigger role once the bill heads to the floor as he tries to reconcile the HELP bill with the Finance measure, a daunting task that risks dividing his caucus further.
Jim Manley, a spokesman for Reid, said the majority leader will work with the Finance Committee, HELP Committee and Obama in a bid to produce a bill that can get 60 votes in the Senate.
So far, Democrats seem optimistic that Reid will bridge the divide behind the scenes.
“Once the committees are out, then Harry Reid will lead,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). “I’m not concerned about that.”
Still, Reid, whose poll numbers have sunk during his 2010 reelection bid, is under pressure back home to show he won’t support a bill that could hurt Nevada. And last week he criticized the Baucus plan for placing too heavy of a burden on his state to help finance Medicaid programs.
“If he fixes the bill for Nevada, the Democratic senators from a lot of other states are going to fix the bill for their states,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).
A clear leader may yet emerge as the process continues to advance — whether it’s Baucus, Dodd, new HELP Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) or Reid.
“What I’ve suggested to my own colleagues and to our leader [is that] we need to keep in the mind this: The process we’re about to begin in the process in the Finance Committee is the end of the beginning,” said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del).
Sources: Politico, MSNBC
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