Baucus Plan Is An ‘Outrage’

You aren’t surprised by this, are you? If I had to predict, I would say this bill is the only bill they will vote on..it will fail, and “reform” will wait another 15 years, while our elected officials keep collecting campaign money from the health care industry.This is how the two parties roll, Bob. This is what they do. Far more important to get re-elected than to pass any meaningful legislation.Is it possible, Bob, that all of this discussion, all of this turmoil over health care has just been one giant red herring, and that most members of both parties never had a realistic commitment to reform?Is that worth considering? Is the money both parties receive every time this issue sneezes too much to pass up? Do they really want to fix it?Bob, in the real world, outside of Washington, real people fix things that are important to them, and no obstacle is too great to stand in their way. In Washington, a slinky is enough to trip up both parties repeatedly.There is no excuse for what is happening in Washington. If there was even the slightest commitment by one party or the other to see this thing through, and done the right way, it would be done already.Both parties in Washington = massive and consistent failThe only thing they accomplish is to piss Americans off more each day. That’s not a very good achievement, Bob.

This is where I could use some help in understanding Congressional procedure.Bob, you say it may not even make it out of committee, which would be excellent. Why? My assumption (hopefully mistaken) was that, at that point, they’d go back to the drawing board and tweak it until there were enough votes to get it out of committee.If it fails in the initial vote, does Harry Reid have the wherewithal at that point to call any efforts out of the Finance committee null and void? Does the Senate then default to the HELP bill?

What about the HELP bill in the senate? Has that been thrown under the bus because Max and Rahm don’t like it because it’s too good for us?I guess we wait and see what comes out as the final bill after the house and Senate combine into the one bill.Rockefeller ishaving a one on one with Obama to tell him what a piece of shit the Baucus bill is.

If the republicans were smart (theoretically), they’d at least pretend like they’re considering the Baucus plan, and help vote it out of the committee. Then it’d be a simple matter of watching the Blue Dogs and the Progressives tear each other to shreds.

This ain’t the worst piece of health-care legislation ever. That might be the Medicare Part D bill. But, Lord, this ain’t good.