Congress has the Votes for Public Option

The President has the needed votes, so why can't he get it done?
by Charlie Leck

This communication came in today from Howard Dean. For those of you who desperately want a public option in health care reform, you ought to follow up on this.

We've worked together since the beginning of the healthcare debate to draw a line in the sand -- the choice of a public option must be included in any reform bill passed this year. And every time Republicans have tried to kill it or the insurance industry has claimed it's already dead, we've stood up and proven them wrong.

The new line from opponents of reform is that Congress doesn't have the votes to pass a public option.

Once again, thanks to you, we've proven them wrong.

We've asked everyone in Congress where they stand. At least 218 House and 51 Senate Democrats have said they would vote for the final healthcare bill if it included the choice of a public option rather than vote against the bill and kill reform. That means Congress has the majority votes needed to pass a public option -- TODAY.

Now is the season for action. The majority of Americans want it. Majority votes in Congress will pass it. Join President Obama in calling on Congress to get the job done this year.

Dean points out that a majority of Americans still want a public option, even after all the Town Hall meetings a circus-like propaganda gatherings agains it. He then gives us a challenge!

ADD YOUR NAME NOW

Some have said it takes 60 votes to pass any bill in the U.S. Senate. It's a myth.It's a myth because while any Senator can attempt to block most Senate bills with a procedural tactic called the filibuster, there are exceptions. Senate rules don't allow filibusters of certain bills that affect the budget. That's right; the healthcare reform plan including the choice of a public option can be passed in a budget bill by a majority vote in the U.S. Senate.

Don't take my word for it. Numerous budget scholars and experts on Senate procedure have staked their reputations on it. Stan Collender, a contributing editor at the National Journal, contributing writer for Roll Call, and author of "The Guide to
the Federal Budget" is an expert on the subject. Here's how he explains it: "The House-passed version of the 2010 budget resolution allows health care reform to be included in a reconciliation bill and, therefore, adopted in the Senate with 51 votes..."

"First, contrary to what some have been saying, reconciliation has become such a standard part of the budget process that using it for health care would be neither surprising nor precedent-setting. When they were in the majority, Republicans insisted that reconciliation was allowed by Senate rules and used it in 2001, 2003 and 2005. Back then, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), who has been one of the biggest opponents of using reconciliation this year, made what in retrospect is an almost infamous floor speech about the appropriateness and legality of using reconciliation.

Second, health care reform will have a substantial impact on federal finances and so can't be said to be unrelated to the budget, which is one of the critical criteria for using reconciliation. In fact, given that at least two of the largest mandatory
federal spending programs — Medicare and Medicaid — are health care programs; health care reform and reconciliation would seem to be a perfect fit.

"Over 25 times in history the Senate has passed major reforms this way, including the Bush tax cuts and funding for the Iraq War. Whether the Senate passes reform
through a budget bill or in a different bill that has overcome a filibuster, the truth of the matter is it only takes a majority vote to get the job done.

JOIN ME IN CALLING ON CONGRESS TO PASS REAL REFORM WITH MAJORITY VOTES

NY Times on Finn Casperson

Some added notes that deal with the mystery!
by Charlie Leck

A few days ago I wrote about the sad death of Finn Caspersen (Death by Suicide), a larger than life sort of person who my wife and I knew quite well.

An article in the New York Times by Lynnley Browning may explain some of the questions I raised about his death. Thanks to a good friend for pointing me to it.

More Troops!

I’ve spent my life hearing the call!
by Charlie Leck

It seems I’ve spent my life hearing one military honcho or another calling for more troops – more troops for the war in Korea, more troops in Vietnam, more troops in Iraq and, now, more troops in Afghanistan.

Does anyone else ever wonder? I mean, isn’t this somewhat, somehow, some way just a little crazy? What kind of nation are we anyway?

I haven’t any answers. Who does? I just shake my head and think about how exhausting it all is. It just isn’t fun being the mightiest nation on earth. Or even pretending we are! It would be better, wouldn't it, to just be little Luxembourg?

Can’t we just give peace a chance! Damn!

IF WE DIDN’T HAVE THE SOUTH

Drop-kick South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma out of the great union of states and we’d get a fantastic health care plan for Americans.
by Charlie Leck

Joe Wilson, the Congressman from South Carolina who made a fool of himself recently in a joint session of Congress, is only the beginning. He’s one of many good, old boys from the southern states who hate the President and want to make our national leader look like a liar, cheat, crook, communist, Nazi and terrorist all rolled up into one. Representative Wilson once belonged to the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He was also heard to strongly denounce the claim of a black woman that she was the daughter of former Senator Strom Thurmond (her claim turned out to be true). Wilson was also one of the leaders of the movement to keep the confederate flag flying over South Carolina’s state capitol building.

Some of this is just in the blood of the southern states. They live in fear of federalism. And, oh, by the way, there is still some fear of the black man left down there as well. Some of my friends wonder why I don’t want to go south in my retired years! It’s quite simple for me. There’s not much I like about the southern states and the hatred that permeates the air down there makes me nervous. I’d rather be cold than live in a state that would elect the likes of Joe Wilson. Ooops! I forgot that we are the state that elected Michele Bachman to Congress. Oh, well, I am again trapped and exposed as a hypocrite. It’s not the first time.

Nevertheless, were it not for the southern states and their irrational fears, we would more than likely have had a strong health care reform package pass the U.S. Congress this year.

That’s a sad statement of fact because there are plenty of people in need in many of those states I mentioned above. Remember, most of those states are rated among the most economically needy states in the nation. One would think their congressional representatives would want to take better care of their constituents than that.

But, what does a hypocrite like I know?

The Public Option is “Deader than a door nail!”

Don’t even dare to hope; for all hope is lost and he that hopes is lost as well and hopeless in the dim!
by Charlie Leck

Word comes to me from Washington – from sources very close to the top (at least in proximity to the top if not themselves nearing the top): “The public option is dead – deader than a door nail!”

And, from Shakespeare’s Henry IV comes the pronouncement:

Falstaff: “What! Is the old king dead?”
Pistol: “As nail in door.”

How sad! The words of Doctor Howard Dean, M.D., keep ringing in my ears: “Health care reform without a public option is not really reform at all.”

Senator Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota), as progressive as they come, has warned all of her constituents that she must look at reform legislation that does not include a public option.

Obama built his campaign on the promise of “universal health care” or a “public option in health care” and now both are lost. The Democrats and the administration will put a great spin on this and still call the bill they pass reformative. Judge for yourself! Even Howard Dean, for political reasons, will tone down his rhetoric, but I can’t see how one could realistically call these minor changes anything like “reformative.”

The doctor is in the house and has officially pronounced the patient as dead – deader than a door nail.

Before screws were developed, nails that were used in the assembly of a door were broken off at the top and bent to the side (clinched), and buried beneath the surface so they would not show after the small hole they left was filled and finished. A clinched nail could never be used again and was therefore regarded as “dead.”

Senator Olympia Snowe, from Maine, may be the only Republican Senator to vote for the President's health care reform legislation. She’s made it clear to the press that the public option is not even on the table for negotiation any longer. [See this story on Bloomberg News]

The public option, just like universal coverage, is dead – “as nail in door!”

Strange Stats… Take a Look at Them!

Who favors health care reform with a public option?
by Charlie Leck

The most recent significant poll of Americans shows that 55 percent of the public favors health care reform legislation with a public option.

The same poll shows that only 50 percent of the public favors health care reform without a public option.

With numbers like these, why couldn’t a majority party pass health care reform legislation with a public option? It leaves me dizzy when I think about it. It is a certain sign of a lack of legislative ability in the executive branch.

“No,” friends tell me, “it’s just a sign of the crazy times and the power of the far right to stir up vocal resistance.”

“Well,” I tell my friends, “the battle lines ought to have been drawn and the fight waged. There is no more important issue upon which to do it. Is the President a chicken?”

“No,” my friends reply, “it is not the President, but it is nervous legislators who have to win reelection in 2010 and they’ve been frightened by the town hall meetings where those opposed always are more willing to come out than those in favor.”

At the moment, I am not proud of my party. The Democrats, across the board, have failed the American people and I, personally, will not forget it.

Keep the Government out of my Medicare!

The Nation has gone insane over the health care debate and both conservatives and progressives are messing it all up!
by Charlie Leck

“So Obama has retreated a little and portrayed this option as a ‘only a means to an end’ that could be discarded. He should not retreat. The public option best enshrines the principle of the state’s commitment to insuring everyone.” [Roger Cohen, NY Times]

Well, this blog really isn’t by me. I’m going to promptly point you to a very special column in the NY Times that I think is precisely and perfectly right-on; but first I want to leave my only little reaction to it.

I lived in Paris for a short, wonderful time. When you get to know that city, it never leaves you; it becomes a part of you and then you take it with you wherever you go. That’s what Hemingway was getting at it in his book about Paris (A Moveable Feast).

Well, during that short period of living in Paris, I came down with a thoroughly awful cold, which turned into flu, which had all sorts of terrible symptoms connected to it. A Parisian friend took me by the elbow and guided me to a hospital not very far from where I was living. I expected long lines, massive amounts of paper work and all sorts of complexities involving my American insurance company. Instead, there was none of that. I was ushered right in to see a friendly, efficient and cooperative doctor. I was examined, given a shot, handed a prescription with careful instruction, and sent back to my apartment to go to bed for a couple of days. No payments! No charges! No health forms to fill out! In two days I felt better. In four days, voila, I was back on my feet and doing fine.

Now, I urge you to read Roger Cohen’s column, Get Real on Health Care.

“Nothing illustrates right-wing ideological madness in the United States better than calls from some to “keep the government out of my Medicare!”

If that’s not enough good reading for you, I urge you to read this 2007 column by Paul Dutton in the Boston Globe: “France’s Model Health Care System!”

“Perhaps it's time for us to take a closer look at French ideas about healthcare reform. They could become an import far less "foreign" and "unfriendly" than many here might initially imagine.” [Paul Dutton]

Now, please, don’t think me naïve! I know the battle for a public option is lost. Obama has surrendered. Any talk from him about continuing that fight is blatant political bluster. What a catastrophe! What gross mismanagement of the legislative process by the Obama administration! My great fear now is that a kitty-whumpus, gerri-rigged, unworkable piece of legislation will be passed and will function so poorly that it, and the baby, will be rapidly thrown out and our nation will be destined to go decades more with no real reform.

I fear the matter of passing health care reform legislation has now become a matter of political pride for the Obama administration and is no longer a matter of true reform and service to the country.