Let's see if the Senate can fulfill their promise to the House on passing the reconciliation fixes as proposed by the House. Based on past performance, my impression of the Senate is that they like to emphasize that they "know better" but at this moment, they need to step up and show they will actually legislate. Thus far (noontime Eastern), things are looking good.
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Although there is one valid argument against this bill - that premiums will go up, and if Massachusetts is anything to go by, they will under this bill, the republicans arguing against the measure are afraid to make this point in detail (but totally unafraid to attack democrats on this, naturally), because it would mean an overt address to the issue of our healthcare-for-profit non-system.
So Far, or the Sausage Machine Kabuki . . .
I heard a report, I think it was from Howard Fineman, that Senate leadership was calling for volunteers to chair the proceedings for extended (round-the-clock?) sessions. Amazing.
A lot of rehashed points, both pro and con. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) expresses the one salient point though: that whatever the shortcomings of this bill, the important point is that the issue of heathcare reform moves forward. In other words, pass it and fix it as we go along and learn more. Fair enough, though I expect we're starting deeper in the hole than we need be at this point with the lack of some sort of PO. (Anyone who knows me knows that I can't pass up a chance to express my native Yankee contrariness. :^)
Max Baucus makes another important point: Medicare part D is basically a government subsidy of private insurance drug coverage. Which is pretty much what this entire program expands on. It's not like people don't already know this, but the point has never really been driven home.
Kyl, who always has a few choice turds to drop. Ah he's against subsidies to insurance companies, but what about Medicare Part D? Gimme a break. Kyl on government run programs, "I don't like them." Surprise, surprise. Kyl on costs, "they will rise". Well, that's a valid point. Essentially, the bill is what we in Massachusetts already have, and we've (as of 2006 - the only figures I've seen) the 5th highest insurance premiums in the country. So why not address that? Because it will involves attacking the profits of hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, which is, of course, something he'd never, ever consider.
Kay Bailey Hutchinson. State's rights. The old code for segregation, and she damned well knows it. Yet she's comfortable with that, and that's just bottom-of-the-barrel contemptible. She's playing to scum, pure and simple.
I wonder what's going on? Chuck Schumer is up for ten minutes, even though democrats have supposedly yielded back all their time. He's saying a lot of nothing-new, which leaves me wondering what the democrats need ten minutes to get accomplished. Committee votes perhaps? Now Jeff Bingaman . . . . Tom Harkin stands up for I dunno how long. Claire McCaskill on pissed about a hearing cancellation on oversight of the contracts to train Afghanistan police.
Senator Snowe, Our Lady of Courted Vote. I'm not aware of any measure she proposed, yet she has opposed many. She has't yet grasped, seemingly, that she's part of the minority party, and pleads for a mythical bipartisanship. The process is rushed? It has been before her for a year, and she was central to the process, yet she behaves as if she wasn't even there. She speaks of last month's bipartisan summit as if it was the only one. It wasn't. The first one took place during the beginning of the process year earlier. I hope someone calls her out on her lies. She hates how those classified as part time workers, many of whom actually work full time but are denied benefits due to this legal fiction, are now to be insured. She also thinks that HCR is supposed to be a jobs bill as well. Can anyone say smoke and mirrors? It's not like she'd be opposed to "hidden charges" by insurers, banks and payday loan firms, but she's against hidden taxes. Let me end on Senator Snowe with this: she evidently doesn't give a damn who she kills. She only sees dollar signs.
Senator Richard Burr, on veteran's healthcare. I believe this also has been adequately addressed, though he will offer another amendment tonight. Thus, we see more rethug stalling tactics. He claims that those people who are "focused on policy" (his words!) were excluded. What total bullshit. Rethugs are not called the party of no for nothing.
This is getting tiresome.
Evidently, the democratic senators want to get their committee work done while this is going on. Carl Levin asks the Senate to proceed in committee. Well, a rethug (Richard Burr again) objects, please note. They'll make three generals scheduled to appear before the Armed Services Committee travel from around the world again.
Diane Feinstein illustrates the fallacy of the myth of America's having the best in the world health care. Sourcing the Commonwealth Fund (located in Massachusetts, please note - pardon me for feeling smug :^), and the WHO.
Please note, and I've touched on this before, that while this is going on, rethugs are blocking all committee hearings. Think Progress notes in the following that this is allowed. So let us all bear witness to some damned good reasons why republicans should be shunned. They should never be invited to the table again. They are nothing but obstructionists who don't, in fact, give a damn about policy but are running a political agenda on Congress and Americans. Nothing could be clearer at this point. Any legislation undertaken in future to address the acknowledged problems with this bill would face exactly the same opposition these from these people.
Now Joe Lieberman. I refuse to report on anything that SOB has to say.
John Thune waves his glasses and talks about debt. Wow. What a surprise. Of course, nothing substantial offered, just more opposition, and yet they claim to lie about interested in setting policy. No, they're not embarrassed. Cornyn on taxes . . . what do you think he has to say?
Just for the record, yes, I'll gladly pay the extra taxes for some wingnut in Texas to get good healthcare, and not worry about getting billed. I'm willing to let the health insurance industries die. It's served its purpose and it's time has passed. I want health care to be a right. A national utility everyone has equal access to. That nobody can be kicked off of. A system where the money goes to making people well without having a small minority of people (corporate officers and shareholders) skim their 30% off the top. I notice that a lot of the rethug arguments against HCR in general are solved by a Medicare-for-All, single payer system. Many are addressed, for a time, by the prescence of a PO that everyone has access too. And yet . . . .
Just a note while Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) praises the donut hole closure: this is the kind of legislation one gets in a democracy. For better or worse, it's a compromise between the needs of people and the imperatives of business. Nobody is totally happy, and we're largely left with political theater. Pass the reconciliation bill by all means, but incumbent democrats who never found it in themselves to fight, and fight hard, for even a bill with a PO need to worry. Any market mechanism designed to tweak premiums will fail. It succeeds only in slowing the rate of growth. In Massachusetts, insurance premiums are rising, but not at the rate seen in other states. In my experience, government interference in the free market is the only device protecting citizens from predatory pricing practiced by corporations required to generate ever higher earnings for their shareholders. The free market is not always cost-free.
And let's be clear about this. Most of Medicare's problems are due to the unregulated pricing of the pharmaceutical companies which seniors pay as part of the inaccurately named "Medicare" Part D.
Senator Bill Nelson, a good guy, addresses the failings in this bill to address drug costs. He's right, and I thank him for bringing this up.
Bernie Sanders, a terrific guy, blasts rethug hypocrisy, something that's always heartwarming to see. Yay! Medicare-for_All and Single-Payer! It's about time that got a mention. My political and ideological objections to this bill center around the fact that any rethug could have proposed this bill, and I believe AHIP already has a proposal out there for the mandate, which is this bill's major aspect.
God bless Claire McCaskill calling out rethugs on their obstructionist tactics. Look at 'em, there's no working with these people.
UPDATE: Orrin Hatch, so suave, such a back stabber (I know someone who once worked on his Senate staff). Notice how all the objections are about money, not about healthcare? Hatch keeps on hammering at this notion of European Socialism's invasion of America...keeps hammering at it, but nobody's biting.
Ah, Chuck Grassley. I've worked with many medical device companies, btw. Lots of them, and they do quite well.
UPDATE: LaFeminista's comments are a must read, and well worth picking through the threads to find :^)
UPDATE: goObama comments on another revealing aspect of republican hypocrisy:
[Claire McCaskill] pointed out that work was being done to improve the situation for the soldiers on the ground in the wars. like the repugs care.
It's a reiteration of the point I made above, that the republicans care nothing about policy, care nothing about our servicemen and women in danger overseas, care nothing about a single piece of policy. They care only to grandstand. To stop government. To play to their wingnut base. They're putting Americans at risk, and they don't give a damn. I can't say it any plainer, and they need to be hammered with this.
UPDATE: On Bob Corker: anytime I hear the phrase, "unfunded mandates" I'm uncomfortably reminded of the phrase, "states' rights" and it's ugly pedigree.
UPDATE: On Judd Gregg and his "concern" on the deficit: well, most of that debt went into saving Wall Street, and refusing to fund two the two wars we're in. Enough said.
UPDATE: The Tom and Judd Show, with a Burr. Rethugs love colloquies. One can see the amount of work they put into them.
UPDATE: Committee hearings the republicans procedurally cancelled today:
- Senate Armed Services Committee: To receive testimony on U.S. Pacific Command, U.S. Strategic Command, and U.S. Forces Korea in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2011 and the Future Years Defense Program.
- Senate Judiciary Committee: hearing on nominations
As I find others, I'll post.
UPDATE: What's coming up shortly, as the time for debate nears it's end (no real surprises). Let's assume they take a break for supper, then the voting will begin, and each amendment will be voted up or down. No matter who shouts louder, every amendment will have a republican who insists on roll being called - each taking ten to fifteen minutes to complete. Since the democratic Senators seem bound and determined to pass the reconciliation fixes bill, this session will run into the early morning. Basically, this obstructionism on the part of rethugs is childish, but there they are and they're not embarrassed.
UPDATE: Voting begins. One minute per side, to explain the amendment (more like whining, and it's pitiful to see a rethug whine), and one minute to explain why the amendment sucks. Reid says there is about 9 hours of voting ahead and he will not call for a break. Therefore, we're looking at a session ending at 2 AM.
LAST UPDATE: In case anyone wonders where specific votes on all these amendments are listed, may I commend you to the excellent work of the people of Thomas and the Library of Congress, who are posting the roll calls of the votes within minutes of their being cast and recorded.
Senate Votes Page via Thomas.