Lieberman Ready To Vote, Dems Want To Recall Him

Connecticut Democrat calls for Joe Lieberman Recall


A House Democrat from Connecticut said Tuesday that Sen. Joe Lieberman should be recalled from office over his opposition to the Senate health care bill.

"No individual should hold health care hostage, including Joe Lieberman, and I'll say it flat out, I think he ought to be recalled," Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) told POLITICO.

Connecticut has no recall law for state officials, and the Constitution does not authorize states to recall members of Congress since each house has the authority to police its own members.

But DeLauro’s comments speak to concerns running through Democratic circles in Connecticut and in Washington after Lieberman exerted his will on Democratic leaders and the White House, saying he would join a GOP filibuster if the bill included either a public insurance option or a provision allowing people aged 55-64 to buy into Medicare.

Now it appears that the leaders will drop those plans to win the support of Lieberman and the rest of the Democratic caucus.

“There’s huge concern that borders on frustration,” Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) said of Lieberman’s position.

“It goes beyond frustration in Connecticut in terms of the way people feel,” Larson said. “I have a great deal of respect and I have long admired Joe Lieberman. This goes against the grain of most of what he’s fought for and stood for all of his life. It’s thoroughly frustrating and disappointing for so many of us.”

Lieberman spokesman Marshall Wittmann denied that the senator was trying to block health care legislation.

“The truth is that Sen. Lieberman is seeking to pass a health care bill as soon as possible that will provide coverage to millions of Americans who lack health insurance.”

Lieberman told reporters Tuesday that he’s been working to get a bill through the Senate that enjoys majority support in the public.

In a statement, Lieberman denied flip-flopping on the Medicare buy-in proposal, saying that his support for the plan during his campaign for vice president in 2000 came at a time when the national debt was less than half what it is now – and when Medicare was not on the cusp of going broke and when there was no “viable” proposal like the one being considered on the floor.

He said comments he made to the Connecticut Post in September endorsing the idea were “before we had a bill for consideration on the Senate floor that contains extensive health insurance reforms, including limiting how much more insurance companies could charge individuals based on age and providing subsidies that would specifically help people between the ages of 55 and 65 to afford health insurance.”

He added: “I look forward to passing a bill that will give the American people genuine health care reform without impeding our recovery from the current recession or adding to our exploding national debt.”

Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, a Democratic centrist, said Lieberman has actually made it easier to reach a deal on the health care bill.

"In a curious way, it may make it more possible to get something done," Conrad said of Lieberman’s position. "Because he wasn't the only one with these concerns, it's very clear - he vocalized concerns many were having."

Lieberman's home-state colleague, Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, said the frustration arose mostly out of support for the public option back in Connecticut.

Asked about the anger directed at Lieberman, Dodd said: "It's just people's frustration for getting a bill done and strong support for a public option."





Joe Lieberman: Ready to vote for Reform


Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday afternoon he thinks he's ready to vote for the Senate health care reform bill — and that his positions on the Medicare buy-in do not contradict his previously stated stances on the issue.

Coming off Monday’s caucus meeting where Democrats backed away from the Medicare buy-in and the public option, Lieberman talked of his willingness to vote for reform.

"To be as explicit as I can be now, if as it appears to be happening, the so-called public option, government-run insurance program is out, and the Medicare buy-in—which I thought would jeopardize Medicare, cost taxpayers billions of dollars over the long haul, increase our deficit—is out, and there's no other attempts to bring things like that in, then... I am getting to that position to where I can say what I wanted to say all along, that I'm ready to vote for health care reform."

Lieberman was adamant that he had not flip-flopped on the issue, despite his support of a Medicare-buy-in-like proposal in 2000 as a vice presidential candidate and then again in an interview a few months ago in the Connecticut Post. He said the current economic situation cannot be ignored in crafting what he believes to be the best bill possible.

In 2000, “the party platform was to suggest one way to reform health care was to allow 55 to 65 year-olds to buy into Medicare. That's a very stressed age group when you don't have insurance. But a lot of things have changed in nine years,” he said. The U.S. government was running a surplus, not a deficit, and Medicare wasn't on the verge of imminent bankruptcy.

"In the Connecticut Post interview—I finally got to see that on TV last night—it looked to me as if I was referring to things I had supported in the past to make the point that though I was against the public option, I was not against health care reform. And of course I did that before the Finance Committee Bill came out very large and again, I'd say generous."

Lieberman, who appeared with ranking Homeland Security Republican Susan Collins of Maine to speak about the Ft. Hood shootings, was not the only one who faced questions as a perceived on-the-fence voter for health care reform. But Collins, a moderate, said that even with the removal of the public option and the Medicare buy-in she could not see herself voting for the Senate bill as it is now.



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Sources: Politico, Google Maps