If you have any expectations for the healthcare summit bringing men (mostly) of good faith together to do their job of making good policy for the American people on a bipartisan basis, you can pretty much give up on all that. Better to go into this one with very low expectations. Why? Because the Republicans are showing up.
But let's back up just a little to set the stage in hcr news today. First, there's Joe Sudbay's report on a CREW review showing that "since 2005, health care special interests have invested at least $28 million in the campaigns of House and Senate leaders, chairs and ranking members of committees with primary jurisdiction over health care legislation." In other words, the summit attendees.
There was also an update on WellPoint's profit growth: "For the year, WellPoint earned $4.7 billion, or $9.88 a share, nearly double the previous year's profit of $2.5 billion, or $4.76 a share." They did sell off a subsidiary, NextRX which accounts for part of that profit, so if you take that out they just made $3 billion in profit. To put a bullet point on this, the House Energy and Commerce Committee had WellPoint executives in the hotseat today: "Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said his panel's investigators had received internal company documents showing that in 2008, 39 company executives received salaries of $1 million or more. And in 2007 and 2008, it spent $27 million for executive retreats, which Democrats said included stays at fancy resorts in Hawaii and Arizona."
On the other hand, 1,124,457 (the point at which they turned off the counter) American citizens called, faxed, or e-mailed their representative and senators, calling for real reform and sending Congress "scrambling". Answering that call, Sen. Carl Levin became the 24th signer to the Bennet public option/reconciliation letter. And, of course, Keith Olbermann made a powerful and empassioned plea for the attendees of the summit to remember why they are there.
It seems unlikely that Republican attendees will live up to that wish. They spent a great part of Wednesday railing against reconciliation, calling it the "nuclear option." Which of course anyone with a memory that extends back five years knows is untrue. Reconciliation is, of course, a regular tool of the Senate, one by which almost all healthcare legislation has passed. And which several of the Republican attendees have full-throatedly supported, when they were in the majority, of course. "A consistent Senate tradition," John Cornyn called it in 2005. The same year Judd Gregg said: "The point, of course, is this: If you have 51 votes for your position, you win.... We are using the rules of the Senate as they are set up to be used. And that happens to be the rule of the Senate."
Republicans have also already provided their seven reasons for the illegitimacy of the summit: if Obama were sincere, he'd be willing to start from scratch; Obama released a plan, instead of a "blank sheet of paper;" the plan is too short; the summit is just intended to make Republicans look bad (as if they needed any help on that one); governors weren't invited; state legislators weren't invited; and, it's a waste of the taxpayers' money (as if they are actually earning their salaries).
Then of course, there is John Boehner, who took it upon himself to demand the White House invite Bart Stupak--as a member of the Republican invitees, a move which Stupak said was done not just without his consent, but without his knowledge. And speaking of attendees, Ron Wyden was added as a last minute Dem attendee. For the sake of parity, the White House also extended an invitation to Olympia Snowe, which she declined. And with that refusal, any lingering hope of bipartisanship.
The Logistics
The summit runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., EST. The first four hours will be broadcast on MSNBC, they will switch to Olympics at 2:00, EST. Live C‑SPAN coverage begins at 9:45am ET on C‑SPAN3, C‑SPAN.org and C‑SPAN Radio. It will be streamed live on whitehouse.gov. I'll be updating with posts and video supplied by Jed throughout the day.
Below the fold are is the list of attendees, via Jon Cohn.
The President will be seated in the middle of one side of the hollow square, with the Vice President, Secretary Sebelius, and congressional Leadership seated alongside him. Members will be seated by caucus around the square.
- Senator Harry Reid, D-NV, Majority Leader
- Senator Mitch McConnell, R-KY, Republican Leader
- Senator Dick Durbin, D-IL, Majority Whip
- Senator Jon Kyl, R-AZ, Republican Whip
- Senator Max Baucus, D-MT, Chairman of the Finance Committee
- Senator Chuck Grassley, R-IA, Ranking Member of the Finance Committee
- Senator Tom Harkin, D-IA, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
- Senator Mike Enzi, R-WY, Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
- Senator Chris Dodd, D-CT, Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
- Senator Chuck Schumer, D-NY
- Senator Patty Murray, D-WA
- Senator Kent Conrad, D-ND
- Senator Jay Rockefeller, D-WV
- Senator Ron Wyden, D-OR
- Senator Lamar Alexander, R-TN
- Senator John Barrasso, R-WY
- Senator Tom Coburn, R-OK
- Senator John McCain, R-AZ
- Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA
- Representative Steny Hoyer, D-MD, Majority Leader
- Representative John Boehner, R-OH, Republican Leader
- Representative James Clyburn, D-SC, Majority Whip
- Representative Eric Cantor, R-VA, Republican Whip
- Representative Charles Rangel, D-NY, Chairman of the Ways and Committee
- Representative Dave Camp, R-MI, Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Committee
- Representative Henry Waxman, D-CA, Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee
- Representative Joe Barton, R-TX, Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee
- Representative George Miller, D-CA, Chairman of the Education and Labor Committee
- Representative John Kline, R-MN, Ranking Member of the Education and Labor Committee
- Representative John Dingell, D-MI Chair Emeritus of the Energy and Commerce Committee
- Representative Xavier Becerra, D-CA
- Representative Louise Slaughter, D-NY
- Representative Robert Andrews, D-NJ
- Representative Jim Cooper, D-TN
- Representative Paul Ryan, R-WI
- Representative Marsha Blackburn, R-TN
- Representative Charles Boustany, R-LA
- Representative Peter Roskam, R-IL
** Note: Senator McConnell and Leader Boehner will designate one additional Republican member to attend.**