A Tale of Two Baucuses: Why Mere Words Aren't Enough

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Thursday October 01, 2009 · 6:28 AM PDT

2009/10/01 · 06:28

As recently as this past April, Max Baucus backed a strong public option -- or so he claimed (h/t Steve Benen):

At that point, he and Ted Kennedy co-signed a letter to the president, explaining that they've been "working together toward the shared goal of significant reforms to our health care system" for nearly a year, and they planned to "swift" action. Indeed, they saw smooth sailing ahead: "Our intention is for that legislation to be very similar, and to reflect a shared approach to reform, so that the measures that our two committees report can be quickly merged into a single bill for consideration on the Senate floor."

So what happened between April and June, when suddenly Baucus came out as a foe of both the public option and of swift action on health care reform?

Emptywheel figures the change may have been related to the arrival on the scene of health-industry lobbyists bearing bags of money and influence:

So what happened between April and June, when suddenly Baucus came out as a foe of both the public option and of swift action on health care reform?

Emptywheel figures the change may have been related to the arrival on the scene of health-industry lobbyists bearing bags of money and influence:

On May 11, "stakeholders" including the AMA, PhRMA, the hospitals and the device manufacturers delivered proposals to the White House promising to "voluntarily" reduce cost increases over the next 10 years. In an effort to keep them "at the table," Baucus's Chief of Staff Jon Selib and Finance Committee staffer Russell Sullivan told stakeholders at a May 20 meeting that their participation in the process of crafting a health care bill was contingent on them "holding their fire":

Sources familiar with the lobbyist meeting described it as collegial, but they said Baucus’ aides made clear that any public opposition to the proposed financing of a reform package would be at their clients’ peril. The staffers’ message to K Street was clear: Tell your clients to let the process work and don’t torpedo it with advertisements, press releases and Web sites.

Of course, in the case of Baucus, the health-industry lobbyists have been around for some time: He is the biggest recipient of their dough on all of Capitol Hill. Nearly one of every four dollars that's gone into his coffers has come from that industry.

This is one reason why mere words of "support" don't mean an awful lot when it comes to the public option. Unless those words are backed by hardcore action -- such as a pledge to vote against any bill without a public option -- then they aren't worth very much.

(Crossposted to The Seminal.)

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