Nancy Pelosi did it. Can Harry Reid?
Two Saturdays ago, Pelosi passed health reform on a squeaker of a House vote. Today, Reid can’t spare a single Democrat as the Senate decides whether to start debate. If not, President Barack Obama’s reform hopes suffer immeasurable harm.
Full Story »
And listen for how forcefully the centrists make their demands. Landrieu spoke up and got an extra $100 million in Medicaid funding sent to Louisiana.
This kind of pork or should I say bribes have to be stopped. I seriously wonder what the total amount of these pork’s is.
And if there’s a contender in the Senate bill for a surprise last-minute fight, it could be immigration reform, as Reid put in tough language that bars illegal immigrants from buying health insurance in the exchange and bars legal immigrants from government health services for five years, measures that Hispanic Democrats oppose.
I agree there must be no care for illegals but lets be real folks just how are you going to apply this to emergency room care?
But here’s the twist – Obama has hinted to his fellow Democrats that he’s in favor of one thing that’s not in the Reid bill, a public option “trigger” that only kicks in if the private sector fails to expand coverage enough. It’s a provision Snowe supports. If Reid can’t muster the votes for his version of a public option, the trigger could make a reappearance, and with it, the hunt for even a single GOP vote.
I too favor the trigger as long as the state option is removed.
So there is already a huge fight to even start true debate in the Senate. Here we are talking of starting real debate and the House was passing the Bill. The Senate bill as presented needs huge change to gain my support. Effective 2014 allows the 2012 election to pass a bill to kill the whole thing before it starts -- a grave error.