Given last night's vote in the Senate [The Senate voted 'yes' to send the Healthcare bill to the floor for debate.], it's important to see a representative swatch of the institution sit down at the Meet The Press table to discuss the bill's merits. Today's guests: Senators Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn. These four Senators all have their significant stakes in the debate. Mr. Durbin is the senior Senator from Illinois - pretty much tied at the hip of Obama policy. Kay Bailey Hutchinson is leaving the Senate for a potential successful gubernatorial run in Texas. Ms. Feinstein represents a state that drives the American economy, but that is also in the tank financially, high unemployment a given. And last but not least, there is Senator Joe Liberman, who caucused with the Democrats last night to bring the debate to the floor.
But it was just that - simply to bring the debate to the floor, and if you are a Democrat or caucus with them only occasionally, you have to vote yes on this measure. And of course, on the other hand, if your a Republican its a slam-dunk 'no.' It's kind of like, 'You at me everyone, I'm fighting it..." But when it comes to Mr. Lieberman it is easy to read his motivations given his tendency to sway back and forth between his conservative tendencies and his more progressive ones even if they occur within the same debate which is the case here with Healthcare. He wants to show his constituents that he is open to discussion about the bill. It's shallow but it's a gesture we guess. But he will filibuster any sort of public option. Why? well he got his chance to explain.
Lieberman: One last word on the public option. I understand that some who have, who have advocated say we need to have a government insurance company in the market to keep the insurance companies honest. This is a radical departure from the way we've responded to the market in America in the past. Here's what I mean. We rely first on competition in our market economy. That's brought us a lot of wealth and given people a lot of jobs. But when the competition fails, then what do we do? We regulate or we litigate. We have never before said, in a given business, we, we don't trust the companies in it so we're going to have the government go into that business. And irony of all ironies, Congressional Budget Office says, I repeat, the government-run public option company will charge more than the private companies will.
At the very end of this explanation, Senator Hutchinson says, "That's counterintuitive. There's no way," agreeing with Mr. Lieberman. But what both Senators fail to understand is that Healthcare reform is essential to the long-term recovery. (We'll try to stay to what they said instead of digressing into what their respective special interest donors would like them to do.) They fail to understand how the insurance industry has cripple one sixth of our economy, as Republicans like to quote, one that is failing and the government needs to create a system and program that give one sixth of the population a chance to succeed in the marketplace without having to be attached to the wrecking ball and chain that are healthcare costs.
[Mea Culpa: There was a time, way back, when this column thought that Senator Hutchinson was a deeper thinker on the issues. A conservative view but a thoughtful one. Not in the slightest - She is just another Texas politician, mired in ideology and short term advantage. And when you complain on national television that you just got the bill on Thursday when versions have been online and public for some time, frankly, you should be called what he fellow Texas Republlican Phil Gramm called the American public at the outset of the financial crisis - a whiner.]
She seemed to plead that they should start over with Republican input. This has been floated before gained no traction for the party of no on this issue. Additionally, it's an attempt to delay the vote through the mid-term elections where maybe Republicans can gain in the polls, and hence gain some public support for their position.
And about Joe Lieberman, he just doesn't get it. He doesn't understand the extraordinary times we're in and to simply compete in this world, the United States has to change how it does business. With regard to his particular point that government hasn't ever gone into business or should not co-exist, he needs to take a look at public and private schools and universities, medicare, public libraries vs. bookstores for cryin' out loud. The public healthcare insurance option will not cost more than private insurance and if it does, it is only because the private companies have adjusted their cost structure to compete.
Senator Feinstein's statement is a fact: no other developed country in the world has the big for-profit insurance industry that we have [that basically controls what treatments people get.] This fact, if only taken by itself, should trouble every American. It says that the playing field is tilted and not in our favor - individuals spending an inordinate amount of their income comparatively.
And one more thing about healthcare and particularly the mammogram coverage or lack thereof. What is with all this talk about regulating every part of a woman's body?! First, abortions and now mammograms. How about this? If a woman decides to have a mammogram check up once a year or if she wants to skip a year if she feels, then fine - it's her choice. Exasperating to say the least.
If only the Democrats could say that healthcare reform would create jobs, then they wouldn't have a worry. Hmm... We agree with Senator Feinstein that infrastructure projects are essential for this country's recovery on several levels. Much of the bridges, roads, tunnels, and levees are in disrepair and this will put people to work. The energy initiative that President Obama announced in Florida was a solid first step. Start converting how we use energy will save money and create jobs. Senator Feistein said, 'buy American' but in the absence of competitive manufacturing in this country, we have to create industry jobs that can not be exported - healthcare and energy/infrastructure.
----
We'll leave it there, but the discussion did continue to the subject of Afghanistan (we'll have more later in the week of the prospective trial in New York City). Just know that if we send 40,000 troops to Afghanistan, that will mean having all eligible troops that the U.S. has to active duty. If any additional troops are needed for any other emergency in the world in which we do need the armed forces, we will simply not have them. Period
No comments:
Post a Comment