I'm getting tired of reading health reform obituaries in the MSM. I'm sick of hearing that the Dems are in disarray, and that delay and compromise are the orders of the day. Nonsense. All it signifies to me is that the issue is contentious and that more pressure is in order.
So I was specially cheered to see this promising quote in today's NY Times:
“If Republican colleagues are serious about fixing our health care system and want to avoid using the reconciliation process,” Mr. Nelson said, “then I will go to the negotiating table with them. If Republican senators join me at the table, we can use bipartisanship for health reform rather than use reconciliation, which needs only 50 votes.”
We've already seen that GOP senators aren't willing to do anything for the American people--even when folks overwhelmingly favor comprehensive reform.
So it seems to me Senator Nelson's statement can only be read as a threat.
2010 should be an exciting election year. Members of Congress from both parties have stirred up public sentiments to a fever pitch, and they now need to take a moment to listen.
As a recent PPP poll shows, Americans don't want tinkering and corporate giveaways in health reform, they want serious change and a serious, public alternative to the privatized insurance industry.
FRESHMAN DEMOCRATS FACE TROUBLE IN 2010 IF CONGRESS DOESN'T PASS A PUBLIC OPTION
Polls in 10 frontline freshman districts show:
68% of voters want a public health insurance option
By 5 to 1, voters want their Representative to fight to add the public option over simply passing the Senate bill
By 3 to 1, persuadable voters are less likely to vote for local Democrat if Congress doesn't pass a public option as part of reform
55% say Democrats need to do more to fight big corporations
56% say Democrats haven't done enough to fulfill Obama's 2008 campaign promises
52% of Democrats less likely to vote in 2010 if Congress doesn't pass public option -- Republicans more likely
As president Obama put it on Wednesday, the country can't afford to push this debate back yet again and still remain a leading global power.
The only way this century will be another American century is if we confront at last the price of our dependence on oil and the high cost of health care; the schools that aren’t preparing our children and the mountain of debt they stand to inherit. That is our responsibility.
Republican senators had better get serious about the crisis we face, or they will face unemployment first-hand in the very near future. There's no way a nation with an overpriced, inefficient health care system can compete for jobs in the twenty-first century. People want to work, but the GOP seems determined to aid and abet the insurance industry as it puts a stranglehold on every single other business and industry in the country.
Which brings me back to Senator Nelson's comment. Let me break it down:
"If Republican colleagues are serious about fixing our health care system..."
[Evidence suggests that this is a really really big "IF" but maybe the senator knows something I don't know.]
...and want to avoid using the reconciliation process,...”
[I find that statement far easier to credit]
“...then I will go to the negotiating table with them. If Republican senators join me at the table, we can use bipartisanship for health reform rather than use reconciliation, which needs only 50 votes.”
[The choice couldn't be more clear]
Senator, my follow-up question to you is:
What if they aren't serious?
I assume that you consider yourself to be serious about health reform. Republicans have already refused, again and again, to negotiate in good faith. We already know that not one GOP senator will answer your call and begin a genuine effort to serve the people they represent. So what now?
Senator Nelson, exactly what are you prepared to do?
UPDATE: Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that Sen. Nelson is likely to lead the reconciliation battle. But I do love the fact that his words can be read that way.