| I've long thought about health care reform this year being about two fundamental goals (at least for me) -- getting a bill passed this year and making that bill as progressive as possible. Those two goals can be in tension and I list the former as I do for a reason -- I see it as the priority.
Others, no doubt, have other goals. Conservatives seem to have the opposite goals of mine -- making sure a bill doesn't pass and making any bill that might as terrible as possible.
Some progressives share my second goal, making the bill progressive, but only support the goal of passing a bill based upon its contents.
Max Baucus, I think, downplays the progressivism of the bill (doesn't discount it, just downplays it) and has a third goal: bipartisanship. The third goal seems motivated both by some deep-seeded principles and also by his sense of history, that bipartisan bills tend to survive longer than partisan bills. But I think (and hope) that for Max, bipartisanship plays second-fiddle to getting a bill passed.
Well, for people who share my goals, there's a few things going on today that increase the chances of a more progressive bill, but possibly do it at the risk of making a bill's passage more dangerous. Here's the news:
- The Left Reasserts Its Voice. I'm not just talking about the folks like the PCCC, MoveOn.org, etc. I'm talking about 60 House Democrats restating that they will oppose any healthcare bill that lacks a public option.
- Conservatives Move the Goalposts Again. It isn't just a public option that they oppose, the right-wing movement is now opposing co-ops. Apparently, private associations of citizens are now government bureaucrats or something. Probably death panels. I don't know. But the lunacy of the right is becoming more clear even as Sen. Grassley has apparently decided to double down on the Chuck's Insanity Sauce he keeps pouring all over reform. He's now pledging to vote against a deal he cuts if his Republican colleagues don't like it. Do the math -- not even co-ops are acceptable to Republicans and Grassley won't accept what is unacceptable to Republicans.
The options for what health care can look like this year are narrowing. Any bill acceptable to enough Republicans to keep it bipartisan in the Senate is likely to face death in the House. Any bill acceptable to enough House Democrats to survive the lower chamber is likely to face a wall of partisan opposition in the Senate.
It has gotten harder in the past week to pass a healthcare bill this year.
But the odds of a progressive bill are going up.
That's how I read it anyways. |
