Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Healthcare Food Fight

As I mentioned in my previous post, the real fun is going to start when the Senate and House try to reconcile their bills. The following is from the New York Times as regards the meeting that the President is having with Democrats about the urgency of passing a bill. Emphasis is mine.

"But in the interview, Mr. Lieberman said that he grew apprehensive that the program would lead to financial trouble and contribute to the instability of the existing Medicare program.

He said he was particularly troubled by the overly enthusiastic reaction to the proposal by some liberals, including Representative Anthony Weiner, Democrat of New York, who strongly endorses a fully government-run health care system.

“Congressman Weiner made a comment that Medicare-buy in is better than a public option, it’s the beginning of a road to single-payer, Mr. Lieberman said. “Jacob Hacker, who’s a Yale professor who is actually the man who created the public option, said, ‘This is a dream. This is better than a public option. This is a giant step.’”

Mr. Weiner on Tuesday fired back, suggesting that Democrats should rally against centrist lawmakers who seem to be dominating the health care debate.

In a statement, he singled out Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine, Representative Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan and Mr. Lieberman. Ms. Snowe played a heavy role in the Senate Finance Committee’s drafting of the bill; Mr. Stupak put forward an amendment, approved by the House, that added tight restrictions on insurance coverage for abortions.

“Who left these people in charge,” Mr. Weiner asked in the title of a news release. “Here’s an idea — how about we fight for a Democratic bill?”

Too bad Messrs. Weiner and Hacker shot off their mouths. The Dems might have been able to sneak this one though. NOT! Get the beer and the popcorn, reconciliation is gonna be a million laughs.

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