WHAT DID IT MEAN & WHAT'S NEXT: Congressional Members React To Scott Brown's Senate Upset (VIDEO)
Video: Congress reacts to an overwhelming Massachusetts wake-up call
Short and very amusing clip, with interesting comments from members of both sides.
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The fallout: Democrats rethinking health care bill
Republican Scott Brown’s upset win in Massachusetts Tuesday threatened to derail any hopes of passing a health reform bill this year, as the White House and Democratic leaders faced growing resistance from rank-and-file members to pressing ahead with a bill following the Bay State backlash.
White House senior adviser David Axelrod told POLITICO: “I think that it would a terrible mistake to walk away now. If we don’t pass the bill, all we have is the stigma of a caricature that was put on it. That would be the worst result for everybody who has supported this bill.” He said the administration will work with Capitol Hill to figure out how.
Obama's former campaign manager, David Plouffe, added on ABC's "Good Morning America": "I'm very confident we can pass health-care reform."
Democratic leaders insisted they planned to press ahead with health reform, and met late into Tuesday night in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. But they made no decisions about how to proceed, now that Brown has swept away the Democrats’ filibuster-proof 60-vote majority in the Senate.
Their options are few, and extremely complex, mostly involving legislative tactics that would be difficult to pull off in the best of circumstances, let alone at a time when members are worried they could be the next Martha Coakley – a seeming Democratic shoo-in laid low, in part, by health reform.
And already Tuesday night, Democrats were being forced to come to terms with the prospect that their decades-long goal of health reform might once again fall short, despite getting closer to becoming law than ever before.
Pelosi insisted Democrats could still make it happen. "We will get the job done. I am confident of that. I have always been confident of that," she told reporters as she left the Capitol at 11:30 p.m.
"Massachusetts has health care and so the rest of the country would like to have that too," Pelosi said, referring to the state’s health care program. "So we don't [think] a state that already has health care should determine whether the rest of the country should."
But it wasn’t clear last night how Democrats could do it, or how hard the White House is prepared to push. A statement by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announcing that President Barack Obama called Coakley and Brown made no mention of health reform.
The White House’s preferred option is for the House to approve the already-passed Senate version of health reform, to avoid the need for another vote in the Senate. But several House members said last night they’re not prepared to pass the Senate bill alone – even if it means health care reform would die.
In fact, early signs of split emerged as the polls closed in Massachusetts – between leaders like House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer who said “the Senate bill is better than nothing,” and individual members who refused to swallow the Senate’s version of health reform whole.
And with the winning majority for a health reform bill in the House so thin, almost any defections at this point would be fatal to reform’s prospects.
"I've maintained for months now that incremental reform in the health care package would make much more sense from my perspective," said California Rep. Jim Costa, one of the last Democrats to vote "yes" on the House bill.
He said he'd like to see Obama tell voters that "we may have been overreaching" and then push for a scaled-back bill that focuses on things more people can agree on, like insurance reforms. He said it's not just a question of the House bill versus the Senate bill. "For me, it's broader than that," Costa said.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), one of the leading advocates for health reform in the House, urged fellow Democrats to heed the message of Massachusetts and pivot toward creating jobs, perhaps with a health-care component added in.
"If there isn't any recognition that we got the message and we are trying to recalibrate and do things differently, we are not only going to risk looking ignorant but arrogant,” he said.
One other option available to Democrats is ramming a revised reform package through the Senate in the roughly two weeks before Brown takes office. That idea already was fading in popularity before Tuesday’s vote, with Democrats knowing they’d be slammed for such a political power-play.
But moderate Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) effectively put the idea to rest Tuesday night, calling the Brown victory a “referendum” on health reform and taking a swipe at his party's leadership by calling for more transparency in the process.
“To that end, I believe it would only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care legislation until Senator-elect Brown is seated,” Webb said in a statement.
Continue reading at Politico >>
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Jan 20, 2010 at 3:09 PM
Reader Comments (7)
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We've decided that instead of throwing money at an inefficient and possibly unfair system to deliver healthcare coverage for US citizens, it would instead be better to throw the money into the pockets of the health care lobby, malpractice lawyers, and doctors who perform unnecessary procedures. Now that we've done nothing, where is the movement to break up the healthcare monopolies and stop frivolous lawsuits? Where is the market reengineering to economically incent doctors to make you healthy instead of making you undergo an operation?
This industry, doctors, and malpractice lawyers are going to continue to run up our national debit. All you have done here by bitching and offering no solution is become a shill of malpractice lawyers, doctors, and the healthcare lobby. Nice work you idiots. Hope you don't get cancer after you get laid off...
Good job, comrade Will, you idiot.
Both parties are responsible guys. The currency has been falling since we began the Federal Reserve usury contracts in 1913, with the exception of a year or two in the Depression.
The bailouts should not have occurred.
Liberty died to the sound of thundering applause long ago as well, look at all the Socialist programs that have been in place for years.
The only thing the Goobermint has ever proven, is that if they touch it, they will F-ck it up, both parties.
And because of that fact I feel I MUST inform you that NOW is a time wherein everyone who saw this coming should FORGET about participating in "organized" efforts to "turn this around" or other lame bullshit in order to focus INSTEAD on YOUR OWN INDIVIDUAL SALVATION ! There is NO fixing this anymore. The die is cast, the course is firmly set.
This salvation may take many different forms; for some it may involve emigrating to new lands & cultures. For others it may involve walking away from a massive, debilitating mortgage debt. Whatever it is that would make you a happier, more successful individual; DO IT!
Do *NOT* feel constrained by antiquated notions of Justice, Morality & Fair Play! Do *NOT* waste time in vain considerations of what our Founding Fathers intended when they established this nation way back when. Be REALISTIC instead and consider ONLY what this nation has BECOME! Yeah, I know. I get that gagging feeling TOO.
NOW comes a time when instead of debating who won or lost in Massachusetts we need to observe and draw lessons from the more experienced populations of Third & Fourth World countries such as Argentina insofar as how they deal with living in a CORRUPT, DEADBEAT SHITHOLE. We need to acquire new talents, such as how to cheat on our taxes or avoid them altogether. How to steal things without getting caught. How to embezzle properly in a way that maximizes profits while keeping jail time to a bare minimum. How to get fake ID papers in order to open offshore bank accounts where we can stash our hard-earned savings. THIS is how we should spend our free time!
You are the idiot sir. Spare me the specious, black and white "hard working American" good Government bad crap. Why don't you stop beating your chest and do some research before you spout your mental diarrhea all over this webpage?
Fact is, I agree with you in an idealistic sense. Capitalism with simple checks in place to prevent any one company gaining too much market share are preferable to what we have today.
But when you look at where we are now and what our options are, there aren't any. So health care reform was defeated? What's your alternative? How will the power of these lobbyists and international conglomerates be reigned in? By bitching and spouting off emotional rants you vaguely remember from Atlas Shrugged? Did you notice that the Supreme Court rolled back campaign spending limits today? It's not capitalism when corporations can buy politicians and run unfettered monopolies.
You haven't taken the time and energy to study the situation and figure out a real, pragmatic course of action. People like you will ruin our country just as much as the corrupt people in power now, only faster.
and if i may stick myself into the argument between will and benny....
will...you make some good points, many of which i agree with...but benny got naturally pissed off because you accused us again of just bitching and not offering solutions...
if you take the time to read the site (i've written 1200 articles at least) you would see that i have made the same points as you about insurance monopolies...on multiple occasions...a dylan ratian editorial comes to my mind as making the exact points as you do...and we posted it quite prominently...
there is so much that needs to be fixed with our health care system...thre is no doubt of this....but obamacare was not the right response...it actually gave more power to the insurance monopolies....
you will get a better response from the regulars by not accusing us...just join in and offer your anger in a less combative way...thanks, db...