David M. Herszenhorn and Robert Pear write in the New York Times:
The fate of the health care overhaul largely rests on the shoulders of six senators who since June 17 have gathered — often twice a day, and for many hours at a stretch — in a conference room with burnt sienna walls, in the office of the Senate Finance Committee chairman, Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana.
President Obama and Congressional leaders agree that if a bipartisan deal can be forged on health care, it will emerge from this conference room, with a huge map of Montana on one wall and photos of Mike Mansfield, the Montanan who was the longest-serving Senate majority leader, on the other.
The battle over health care is all but paralyzed as everyone awaits the outcome of their talks.
Why this little scenario needs to change, right now:
Already, the group of six has tossed aside the idea of a government-run insurance plan that would compete with private insurers, which the president supports but Republicans said was a deal-breaker.
Instead, they are proposing a network of private, nonprofit cooperatives.
They have also dismissed the House Democratic plan to pay for the bill’s roughly $1 trillion, 10-year cost partly with an income surtax on high earners.
The three Republicans have insisted that any new taxes come from within the health care arena. As one option, Democrats have proposed taxing high-end insurance plans with values exceeding $25,000.
The Senate group also seems prepared to drop a requirement, included in other versions of the legislation, that employers offer coverage to their workers. …
…In the House, centrist Democrats have temporarily stalled the health care bill, many lawmakers want to see what Mr. Baucus’s group produces before voting on tax increases in the House bill.
I read this first thing this morning, and I cannot tell you how sick I feel. That the lives of Americans rest with this corrupt little crew — at least some of them are essentially sponsored by Big Pharma and other parts of the medical-industrial complex, who are major campaign contributors — is beyond outrageous. It is the utter failure of American democracy in microcosm.
My favorite quote:
“If this is the only bill with bipartisan support,†Ms. Snowe said, “that will really resonate. It could be the linchpin for broad bipartisan agreement.â€
And we need broad bipartisan agreement so much more than we need health care.
These people need to hear from us:
Senator Max Baucus, Montana, Democrat
Senator Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico, Democrat
Senator Kent Conrad, North Dakota, Democrat
Senator Michael B. Enzi, Wyoming, Republican
- Washington Office:
379A Senate Russell Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Main: (202) 224-3424
Fax: (202) 228-0359
Toll free: (888) 250-1879
- All office locations
- Email form
Senator Charles E. Grassley, Iowa, Republican
Senator Olympia Snowe, Maine, Republican
- Washington Office:
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5344
Toll Free: (800) 432-1599
Fax: (202) 224-1946
- District offices
- Email form
Also:
The White House, so you can tell President Obama to veto any bill that doesn’t contain the public option:
And
Update: I looked up state populations (as of 2008) and calculated that all six of the senators put together represent 8,444,956 people. The population of New York City is approximately 8.3 million people.
2008 Populations
- Montana 967,440
- New Mexico 1,984,356
- North Dakota 641,481
- Wyoming 532,668
- Iowa 3,002,555
- Maine 1,316,456
