According to The Note over at ABC News, there might be some real meat to the rumors that rank-and-file Senate Democrats and party leadership may throw in the towel on Max Baucus' super-secret, interminable bipartisan talks.
With the health care bill languishing in the Senate and under fire in the House, Democratic leaders are quietly preparing for Plan B.
Under the scenario now being discussed, bi-partisan talks would be aborted and parliamentary maneuvers used to force the bill through with a party-line vote.
And an inside source is quoted:
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., still has time to try to work out a deal with his Republican counterpart Chuck Grassley, but fellow Democrats are growing restless.
"There’s rising disgruntlement with how Baucus has handled this," a senior Democratic aide tells ABC News. "We have to look at other options."
Let's hope this is true. For our part, we might be able to exert real pressure in forcing our leaders to take a stand - and sooner rather than later.
Right now, Democrats in the Senate are clearly getting rolled. Talks have been going on in an elite sub-group of the Senate Finance committee for months, yet Republican negotiators Chuck Grassley and Mike Enzi keep playing games. Trouble is, you have to wonder if Max Baucus isn't playing games, too, perhaps intending to keep the legislation in his vest pocket for as long as possible, and thus exert maximum control.
As Kossack ryeland showed in a revealing recommended diary last night, Baucus is backing in and out of promises with the president and party leadership, seriously calling into question his leadership abilities, motivations, or both.
Unfortunately, the ABC News article makes it seem like "Plan B" might not go into motion for quite some time:
Does this mean we’ll still be seeing live reports on bi-partisan talks from CNN’s Dana Bash outside Max Baucus’s office when Congress returns in September? Don’t count on it. Baucus has some time to work out a deal over the August break, but Democratic leaders are unlikely to allow talks with Republicans to drag on into September.
Why wait so long? Promises need to mean something. Unwarranted delays need to have consequences.
LET'S TAKE ACTION
It's already being reported that some Democrats on the Finance committee who have been excluded from Baucus' super-secret talks are unhappy with the direction the talks are taking. Jay Rockefeller, for one, has called into question the viability of co-ops over a strong public option.
I propose that we call all excluded committee Democrats this afternoon to express our frustration with the delays, and to ask them to insist that a bipartisan agreement and/or alternative committee vote and markup take place before the recess begins. That would give them one more week - or longer, if they stay in town to finish things up.
For kicks, here's the contact info for this particular group:
Charles Schumer (NY) at (202) 224-6542
Jay Rockefeller (WV) at (202) 224-6472
Ron Wyden (OR) at (202) 224-5244
John Kerry (MA) at (202) 224-2742
Blanche Lincoln (AR) at (202) 224-4843
Debbie Stabenow (MI) at (202) 224-4822
Maria Cantwell (WA) at (202) 224-3441
Bill Nelson (FL) at (202) 224-5274
Robert Menendez (NJ) at (202) 224-4744
Thomas Carper (DE) at (202) 224-2441
The Dems on the committee who are actually party to the negotiations are Baucus (groan), Kent Conrad (ack), and Jeff Bingaman. The first two seem to be oblivious to calls from the public. But we might be able to exploit a "crack in the wall" by instead targeting those in the above list, plus perhaps Bingaman:
Jeff Bingaman (NM) at (202) 224-5521
Oh, and if you're so inclined (and have the resources), Organizing for America could use our help with donations. We've got to gear up for a full-scale air war over the recess.
http://my.barackobama.com/...
MAJOR UPDATE ON TIMING:
Discovered in the comments that there seems to be breaking news (yes, truly breaking) regarding the timetable for the top-secret negotiations.
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has set a new deadline of Sept. 15 to complete bipartisan health care talks, Senate sources said Friday.
Baucus has told his Senate colleagues that at that point he will move forward with a markup of a health care bill, whether [or not] he has a bipartisan agreement to work from, these sources said.
Baucus should not be allowed to drag this out for so much longer. There is no reason they shouldn't have a bipartisan agreement by next week. As almost all reports suggest, they're already 95% of the way there. No more delays are necessary.
At least a couple items in the story inspire a little confidence. First, Baucus seems to have given his, ahem, firmest ultimatum yet to his Republican co-negotiators: Make a deal by 9/15 or I'll move ahead without you. And second, there may be a split developing between Baucus and these Republicans. Or the appearance of a split. With Baucus, it's never quite clear. Does he want to get a good bill passed or not? Whose side is he on?
According to sources who were in the room, Selib [Baucus' Chief of Staff] said Republicans were "killing" the health care reform effort for political gain. Selib said the bipartisan talks have yielded agreement on 95 percent of the issues, and that only two or three sticking points remain. Selib made a subtle plea to attendees at the meeting, most of them members of the business community, to urge Republicans to accept the deal, suggesting that it was the best they could hope to get. Sources in the room also said Selib appeared to question whether the GOP negotiators were acting in good faith.
Selib also warned the group that pursuing the reconciliation procedural tool might be necessary to get health care enacted this year, and he blamed Republicans for forcing the Democrats to seriously consider using the maneuver. Reconciliation would allow Democrats to pass a health care overhaul with a simple, 51-vote majority.