Oh, all sorts of things, but today it's about creepy Baucus (just in time for Halloween masks).
I consider myself a political junky, but I'm at a loss on this issue. I would appreciate anyone who can answer these questions.
The Democrats have a huge majority in the house. The speaker & leadership are the total “deciders” on what comes to the floor for a vote. They pass health care (with the public option) on a straight up or down vote. Hurray!
There is a democratic president in the white house, that we all know, at this point, will sign whatever bill shows up on his desk. If its not great, he'll just make some noises about it getting better in the future (which may even be true).
So we come to our problem children, the US Senate (the bad seeds). We have 59 (soon to be at 60 again, I bet). That's a filibuster-proof majority, as we all know. That's assuming ALL democrats vote for closure, which I really do think they will. Call me naïve. So the problem, I believe, is located in the very very bad seeds of the Senate Finance Committee.
Here's what I don't understand & perhaps someone can tell me. We (meaning Democrats) have a big majority on the Senate Finance committee, like they do on every committee in the senate (also pointed out by many Cossacks).
What is the deal with this committee? If we have such a big majority on it, why are we pissing around with these 3 republicans? What about the other 22 members of this committee, of which 13 in total are Democrat? What power exactly does a committee chairman like Baucus have? Can the other committee members overrule him by vote? Is it solely at his discretion what legislation actually comes up for a vote by this whole committee?
Assuming that Baucus is all powerful on that committee, what is the Senate Finance Committee's actual necessity to the bill? Are they really necessary, considering a bill has already emerged from the HELP committee in the senate? Since this is the committee that actually oversees health care, I would assume that they should be the only ones overseeing a bill. I know, my naiveté again. Can anyone tell me why the Finance Committee is even involved?
So, my last question. Why would the Finance Committees bill take precedence over the HELP committee's bill? Is it the funding issue? Since the Finance Committee bill, which looks like it will NOT have a public option, and also have a really crappy “fining insurance companies” (i.e. passed directly onto be you & I) funding plan, why is the final bill to defer to that committee?
Anyway, for my two cents, if this bill, and in turn the house bill, are to be sculpted in the image of this crappy Finance committee bill, our only hope is the CBO. If it scores the crap bill way higher in costs than the house bill, it may be the only thing that “reboots' the public option.
PS-Oh Jeff Bingaman, I hope you enjoy your 6 years in the Senate, cause if you go along with this dog, that's all you'll ever see. New Mexico is NOT a conservative state anymore. You're probably going down!