Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Democrats: Store Closed For Health Care Reform Deals
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is playing hardball with her rank and file in the run-up to an historic health care vote.
Instead of the typical wheeling and dealing to pick up much-needed support, Pelosi and her leadership team are warning members that the bill is final, and its language is set, so don’t come seeking major changes or handouts for your district.
Asked if she was willing to change the final legislation at the request of Democratic holdouts, the speaker said, “No.”
That message may sound good to voters angered by the “Cornhusker Kickback” or any other last-minute deals — but it’s sure to make life difficult for Pelosi as she struggles to find the 216 votes she needs to pass the final package.
Of course, Pelosi’s words may just be a warning to anti-abortion Democrats and other lawmakers with major concerns that the store is no longer open; they can either vote for the bill or vote against it, but the time is over for drawn-out negotiations. And, if the votes aren’t there, Pelosi may be forced to retreat on her hardball threat.
But for now, this stern warning from party leaders — and the corresponding appeal to ideology — is bad news for lobbyists and outside groups that have been working to make eleventh-hour changes in their favor, from industry-specific changes to the public option. The decision to preclude any changes means those groups are likely to be disappointed.
“No horse-trading,” said one Democratic source with knowledge of leadership’s thinking. “They are closed for business.”
Still, this doesn’t mean party leaders can’t or won’t court votes with the lure of provisions in future bills or campaign help from the president, but it indicates that House leaders plan to go to the floor with the reconciliation bill they have rather than making last-minute changes at the Rules Committee to attract more support.
“The reconciliation package is, of its nature, a budget reconciliation, so it has to relate to the budget; it has to be about the bottom line of the federal government,” Pelosi told reporters Monday. “We cannot deal with other language in a budget reconciliation bill.”
“There’s not going to be any direct impact to this bill,” one source said. There will be “no opportunities to amend the reconciliation bill once it comes out of the Budget Committee.”
The text of the reconciliation bill has not yet been made public. House leaders hope to hold a vote on the Senate’s version of the health care bill and the reconciliation measure — which would contain “fixes” desired by the House — by the end of the week.
Democrats can’t vote on the final measure until Thursday at the earliest, and the vote could drift until Saturday or Sunday — or later — if leaders keep their pledge to give people 72 hours to review the final changes.
The House Budget Committee cleared the first procedural hurdle Monday by approving the reconciliation package in a 21-16 vote. But a pair of Democrats who voted against the House bill — Florida Rep. Allen Boyd and Texas Rep. Chet Edwards — voted against the Budget Committee package Monday. Edwards has been a steadfast opponent of both bills. But leadership has been quietly hoping Boyd, a prominent Blue Dog, will vote for the final changes.
Also Monday, President Barack Obama challenged a crowd in Strongsville, Ohio, that “We need courage” — a message directed as much to wavering Democrats as it was to voters.
“This debate is about far more than politics,” Obama said. “It comes down to what kind of country do we want to be. It’s about the millions of lives that would be touched and, in some cases, saved, by making health insurance more secure and more affordable.”
House Democrats have a range of policy concerns with the Senate bill that haven’t been addressed in the changes party leaders in both chambers cut with the White House. The biggest problem for leaders, though, is the decision to move forward without altering the Senate’s restrictions on abortion coverage.
Three Democrats who backed the initial House package told their local newspapers that they’d defect if the bill doesn’t change that language:
—Ohio Rep. Steve Driehaus told The Cincinnati Enquirer, “I will not bend on the principle of federal funding on abortion. ... They are going to have to do it without me and without the other pro-life Democrats.”
—Illinois Rep. Jerry Costello told The (Alton, Ill.) Telegraph, “I’m opposed to the Senate bill in its current form. ... I don’t like the process at all; I think the White House and the leadership has bungled this from the start.”
—Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Carney told the Scranton (Pa.) Times-Shamrock, “I can’t vote for a bill that will publicly fund abortion.”
The president and his Cabinet are expected to lean heavily on wavering Democrats this week. To avoid the hard sell, some of the 39 Democrats who voted against the first bill are putting themselves on the record against this one.
North Carolina Rep. Mike McIntyre issued a statement saying, “Health care reform is needed, but the bill before us is too expensive, does not adequately address rising medical costs and skyrocketing insurance premiums and tries to do too much too soon. We simply cannot afford to create a new federal bureaucracy that costs nearly $1 trillion when our national debt is $12 trillion and there is no plan in place to address it. I will not vote for it.”
Republicans quickly blasted that statement, which echoes their own talking points, to congressional reporters.
Other “no” votes are laying the foundation for a repeat performance.
Virginia Rep. Glenn Nye circulated a letter in which he says the final bill “will not have [his] support” if it “does not contain significant changes and does not actually reduce health care costs.”
In the meantime, Republicans are crying foul because Democrats are expected to craft a rule for consideration of the final package that would prevent the House from voting directly on the Senate’s bill. The so-called Slaughter Solution, named after Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), would automatically enact the Senate bill if the House approves a rule for consideration of the changes.
“There has never been anything like this before,” said California Rep. David Dreier, the ranking Republican on Rules. “They are working overtime to do everything they can to avoid the accountability issue.”
“This is their redirect,” Pelosi said of Dreier’s charges. “It’s not about gymnastics ... except if that’s part of the wellness program.”
The speaker says she hasn’t made a final decision about how to bring a package of fixes to the floor.
“When we have the substance, then we will decide on the process,” she said, adding the so-called Slaughter Solution is “an option.”
But she was unwavering when reporters asked her if she was willing to cut a deal with her members regarding abortion or immigration restrictions in the Senate’s bill.
“What we’re talking about here is passing this bill,” Pelosi said at an afternoon news conference with a dozen or so babies, many of them crying. “It’s a bill about health care, health insurance reform. It’s not about abortion; it’s not about immigration. ... The only reason therefore to oppose the bill is that you do not support health care reform.”
Sources: Politico, MSNBC
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment