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StumbleA Vegas-style gamble on Obama’s agenda
Democrats, facing tough midterm elections, know passing key legislation may be their only ticket to re-election in November
Las Vegas Sun
President Barack Obama listens Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) during a town hall meeting at Green Valley High School in Henderson Friday, February 19, 2010.
Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.
Sun Coverage
- Senate casts historic vote on health care reform (12-24-09)
- Harry Reid casts ‘no’ vote as joke — maybe (12-24-09)
- How Reid handled health care (12-24-09)
- Road to health care reform still has obstacles (12-24-09)
- Senate clears a final procedural hurdle to health care reform (12-23-09)
- Health coverage requirement raises constitutionality debate (12-23-09)
- Reid bobs and weaves to land health care deal (12-22-09)
- GOP to keep up its fight until the final deadline (12-22-09)
- Deal-making gets job done, Reid says (12-22-09)
- Obama welcomes ‘historic’ health care advance (12-21-09)
- Jim Gibbons attacks Harry Reid on health care bill (12-21-09)
- Health care bill clears tough Senate test (12-20-2009)
- Health care compromise gives sweet Medicaid deal to Nebraska (12-20-2009)
The political strategy in Washington these days is a familiar one to Las Vegas. It amounts to going for broke. All in.
After a year of impasse on key legislation and sobering results in recent special elections, one might think President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats would pull back on their political agenda, perhaps try a new approach, something little less ambitious, something a little more bipartisan.
Not so. Obama unveiled a new health care plan this week that is just as ambitious as the one Republicans have been fighting, the same one that helped Scott Brown, a Republican upstart, pull out a victory in the race for the Massachusetts Senate seat long held by Ted Kennedy.
Similarly, a bipartisan jobs bill that had attracted some Republican support was ditched in favor of one that was criticized as a Democrats-only bill crafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Democrats seem to have learned the opposite lesson. Obama’s campaign-style speeches in recent weeks, including in Las Vegas, are aimed at pushing his policies forward.
Democrats’ message from the first year of the Obama presidency and the difficult battle for health care reform seems to be that if they have any hope of retaining power in the midterm election, they must show they are not afraid to accomplish the goals voters elected them to achieve in 2008.
“It’s tough out there,” Obama told a crowd in Henderson last week. “That’s why we asked you to send us to Washington ... We didn’t run to kick our problems down the road. We ran to solve problems that folks like you are facing every single day.”
As congressional leaders head to Blair House this morning for the White House summit on health care, they are pressing forward with legislation that was Obama’s top domestic policy priority despite staunch Republican opposition.
Not only are Democrats going for broke, but they are also forcing Republicans to make their own gamble. Republicans must decide whether they will stand firm in their opposition to Obama’s agenda — a strategy that has served them well so far but could haunt them as the “party of no” this fall.
Democrats “are doubling down, but they’re also trying to smoke out Republicans: ‘OK, put your money where your mouth is,’ ” said Jim Kessler, a vice president of Third Way, a centrist think tank in Washington.
The gambit is a dicey one for both sides. Voters are not pleased with Congress. But polls show that although Democrats have lost favor since their landslide victories in 2006 and 2008, voters aren’t convinced Republicans would do a better job.
The prize this fall could be a decisive election victory, signaling which party is rising in Congress.
So far, the Democratic strategy is showing early dividends. Reid’s abrupt decision to gut the bipartisan jobs bill in favor of a scaled-down version proved successful this week.
Not only did Reid secure 62 votes to advance the bill, thanks to support from Brown and four other Republicans who crossed party lines. But 70 senators voted for the legislation Wednesday, including 13 Republicans. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., voted no.
Republicans are reluctant to be seen as voting against jobs during the recession. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce was among those praising the bill’s passage.
“Businesses are struggling, and this bill will help encourage job growth by giving tax breaks to businesses that hire the unemployed,” chamber Chairwoman Kristin McMillan said.
Health care reform, though, is a heavier lift than a jobs bill.
The issue has divided Nevada and the nation. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll this week shows the country evenly split on health care. Polls in Nevada have shown that although voters are unhappy with the health care system, they oppose the congressional bills. Yet the Kaiser poll shows 58 percent of adults nationwide would be “disappointed” and “angry” if Congress fails to pass health care reform this year.
“The country still is not sure whether they want this or not,” Kessler said. “The jury’s still out on whether it’s a political winner, a political loser.”
Still, Obama has decided to press forward, understanding that to cede what was once his top domestic policy priority would be a greater political loss.
“Here’s what I ask of Congress: Do not walk away from reform,” Obama said during his State of the Union address, fewer than 10 days after Brown’s victory. “Not now. Not when we are so close. Let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people.”
Obama’s bill largely mirrors the version Senate Democrats passed Christmas Eve, but with sizable changes — including getting rid of special payments for Nebraska and postponing a tax on high-end health benefits. Rather than amend the legislation to appeal to Republicans, the president crafted it to attract reluctant House Democrats, a signal that Obama sees the path forward not through Republicans but in shoring up his party.
Democrats, especially those in difficult re-election races this fall, have been skittish about returning to health care when they would rather focus on jobs. For six months, Democratic Rep. Dina Titus, who represents recession-weary Southern Nevada, has repeatedly said jobs, not health care, should be the priority.
Titus and other Democrats will have to decide whether to go all in on health care.
“People feel like you got to get something done,” Titus said Wednesday after the House voted 406-16 to pass legislation that would end the antitrust exemption for health insurance companies. “I feel that way.”
Democratic Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia, president of the House freshman class, agreed. “If the result is nothing, it’s a lot worse.”
The most likely scenario for passage of health care legislation: The House votes on the Senate-passed bill, then both chambers take up another bill that would make changes needed to please both houses and address Obama’s legislation. This would likely be done through the reconciliation process that requires only a majority rather than the 60 votes typically needed in the Senate.
Some Democrats hope to accomplish this by Easter.
Republicans are indicating they, too, have no intention of abandoning their campaign of opposition. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky made it clear he found little to like in the president’s bill.
“We’ve now had an opportunity to look at the president’s summary of where he’d like to go on health care, and I would say putting a new name on a whole lot more spending is clearly not reform,” McConnell said.
He called the Democrats’ approach “arrogant.”
One Republican aide called the Democratic approach the chip-on-the-chair strategy — one last shot at winning big. “If they don’t get it, I’m not sure what’s left.”
Judy Feder, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, said Republicans have a choice to make.
“We’ve not seen any serious investment in health care reform by Republicans and this is a chance for them to show that or to decide that they just say ‘no,’ ” she said.
The cards have been dealt for today’s summit. Both sides will be gambling on the political path forward.
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The elected so called leaders are going to be voted OUT of office because they still cling stubbornly to the hated health care issue which every American has already told them is NOT the front burner issue at this time. Jobs and economy stupid!!
Lisa reported "a bipartisan jobs bill that had attracted Republican support was ditched in favor of one that was criticized as a Democrats-only bill crafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Democrats seem to have learned the opposite lesson. Obama's campaign-style speeches in recent weeks, including in Las Vegas, are aimed at pushing his policies forward."
--------------------------------
The announced price tag is around $1 trillion over 10 years for an estimate 25-30 million.
In the end still up to 20 million will not be covered and private plan premium will go up.
There is NO COST Containment.
We are still paying for abortions
It will cost thousands for each person the government through a picking and choosing process will decide give free health care too.
Everybody else not picked for free health care will be conscripted to buy a plan.
This $1 TRILLION will be paid for by REDUCING Medicare and Medicaid benefits, heavily SALES TAX on basic health care services, increased "COST SHIFTING" of government costs to private plans, EXCISE TAX on private health care insurance plans, and PAYROLL TAXES will be increased by increasing the rate for households by taxing UNEARNED income like for capital formation dividends, interest, annuities - and rents and royalties.
Most of the actions rely on the need for future Congresses to actually make the changes like to Medicare. There is no CBO scoring.
Pass this spending bill now and TRUST CONGRESS to get the money out of Medicare later.
Whitehouse Leaks report a plan B is coming after today PR meeting.
Obama and Reid anticipate that they will not be able to justify their plan today
Apparently what the people want or what the people need is totally off the table. What might save the Democrats in the election is the only concern.
I think this has been the problem for the three years the Democrats have been running the Congress and now we know why nothing good comes out of Washington.
Something is absolutely coming, if Obama, and this Congress decide to press forward on the Healthcare bill. Been hearing a lot of rumblings in the press, but more importantly in web forums and video postings on "You Tube". I truly fear we have reached a flashpoint in history. One similar to the Flashpoint reached on April 12th, 1861. There is a visceral divide in this country. One that I can't believe has come as far as it has. There really isn't a physical issue at hand, simply one of ideology, ignorance, and arrogance, but I guess those can be some of the worst divides.
Helvetico...
WHAT is COMING????
Give us a hint...
So far, the comment section here sounds like a Sunday morning round-table on FOX.
I been watching Democrats with amazement for over a year. They have the foot to the pedal and are driving off the cliff.
Democrats remind me of bugs at night trying to get as close as they can to the lights on zappers.
If they shove this vote down the throats of Americans while 60% of Americans hate it then they might get zapped.
They could be already zapped.
But I am happy that they are trying to shove it down the America's throat.
It is engraining these thoughts into the minds of independents for decades to come that the Democrats are the party of Big-Big brother, Big-Big government, Big-Big deficits and Big-Big taxes.
Go for it!!!!!
Try to pass the damn thing via reconciliation.
From a foreigner's vantage point, it seems that the President's heart is in the right place and he genuinely wants to pass meaningful health care reform.
Unfortunately he is insisting on doing it in one huge reform bill which I doubt anyone in Congress properly understands. The health care issue is vastly complicated in the USA because of the contrasting views of the American people. Universal health care works well in Canada and many other countries, but a large majority of the populace in those countries views the universality as a necessary right of the citizens. That is not true in the USA.
I have a nagging suspicion that President Obama is letting his electioneering get in the way of his sound judgement.
If the President were my son asking my advice, I would suggest to him that he announce immediately that he will NOT run for re-election. That would send a wonderful message to America and the Republicans that he is not focusing on the re-election of himself and his fellow Democrats, and that he will concentrate solely on his job as President for the next 3 years. That just might end the political gridlock and allow great legislation to be brought forward.
Health Care Reform is about the economy and jobs, stupid.
Belleville's president's heart is in America getting some needed healthcare.
Sen Lautenberg (D-NJ) is in NYC getting some needed treatment which the typical Jersey resident wouldn't be able to get if this bill for which he voted for passes.
The beat goes on.
If Canadian healthcare is so great then why did the Premier of Newfoundland, Danny Williams, go to Florida to have heart surgery? Maybe the same reason did not have his recent surgery in Cuba.
The real, underlying problem on HCR (and other important matters) is that we have two tempermental tyrants heading up the Senate. No matter what the issue, Tyrant D and Tyrant R cannot agree or negotiate on anything so the country and thwe world suffers as with any tyranny that has been imposed on a government.
Come November Nevada has the opportunity to fix half of this equation. Reid has to go for the good of Nevada and the good of the U.S. He has outlived his usefulness to both and now is nothing but an obstruction to meaningful legislation being NEGOTIATED through the Senate.
celeritas sez...
"Health Care Reform is about the economy and jobs, stupid."
Celeritas is absolutely CORRECT!
The right just does not get it.
All you need to do to get health care is write a check for the insurance using your $100,000+ bonus. If your bonus is already spoken for then lay off some people, tell the others to work more, loose the retirement plans, and raise your bonus.
The Marxist-Democrats find themselves on a Toyota bus headed for November 2010 with a Japanese auto executive at the wheel, and a broken brake system and fuel system underneath it.
If Lautenberg croaks, is there a special erection or does the governor of New Jersey choose his successor?
OK, so this healthcare reform seems to be the most important issue.
Let's say that thre is over 10% unemployed Americans...Check!
How many of those can afford healthcare on their current income? Hint: They are still unemployed.
So healthcare reform does little good if we don't have jobs to pay for lower cost healthcare. There is still an associated cost. Pretty simple math.
Unless this healthcare reform is FREE healthcare for all, then maybe...we should probably focus on more important issues like jobs and the economy.
cashinhand,
Maybe you should have another hit before you write. PAY ATTENTION.