Small Group Now Leads Closed Negotiations on Health-Care Bill

[PinkOwl]

Source: Washington Post

Three months before he was elected president, Barack Obama vowed not only to reform health care but also to pass the legislation in an unprecedented way.

"I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table," he said at an appearance in Chester, Va., repeating an assertion he made many times. He said the discussions would be "televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies."

But now, as a Senate vote on health-care legislation nears, those negotiations are occurring in a setting that is anything but revolutionary in Washington: Three senators are working on the bill behind closed doors.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) sits at the head of a wooden table at his office as he and Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) work to merge two competing versions of health-care legislation into one bill. The three men will be joined by top aides as well as by members of President Obama's health-care team, led by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. The sessions started on Wednesday and could be completed this week.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/17/AR2009101701810.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR

[DJ13]

1. I like the fact theres only 4 people deciding this

It makes it easier to know who to blame afterwards.

[napi21]

2. Pretty much everything has been televised up to now. I don't

have a problem with these last discussions being behind closed doors. I'm hoping that there will be some strong language & arm twisting to Bacus and it's better that it's not witnesses!

[PinkOwl]

4. Was the very important WH-Phrma deal televised?

There must have been a blackout in my area at the moment of the broadcast.

[high density]

3. Yes wouldn't the media love to be in there so they can report bullshit and take reform off the rails

Screw the media.

[PinkOwl]

5. Do you mean Obama should not have made the promise?

""I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators. Insurance companies, drug companies -- they'll get a seat at the table, they just won't be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies. And so, that approach, I think is what is going to allow people to stay involved in this process.""

Remember, he's referring to all the negotiations here.

[harmonicon]

10. he doesn't control what the Senate does (nt)

[msongs]

6. all those conservatives and NO liberal or progressive. gee thanks nt

[bluestateguy]

7. A bunch of senators could care less what Obama promised in the campaign

They are not bound by anything he said in the campaign, and they are going to do things there own way.

[SandWalker1984]

8. Obama's aides today stating Obama not demanding a public option

Aides: Obama not demanding government-run option
Aides: Obama still favors government-run option in health overhaul, but not demanding it

By Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press Writer
On 11:44 am EDT, Sunday October 18, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama still believes a government-run health care option would best meet his reform goals but is not demanding that it be part of overhaul legislation, White House advisers said Sunday.

The White House and lawmakers are trying to blend five House and Senate committee versions of health care legislation into a bill that will pass both houses, where near unanimous Republic opposition was expected.

-snip-

Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said Obama believes the public plan is still the "best possible choice," but she said he's not demanding it.

******************

The story goes on to mention that Rahm Emanuel today on the talk show circuit also stated the public option is not the defining piece of health care.

Read the rest of the story at
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Aides-Obama-not-demanding-apf-2602917529.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=


I don't know about the rest of you, but this is really making me angry. Lots of us are campaigning, writing, emailing & donating to groups, pushing hard for a public option to give the private insurance companies some sort of real competition and to keep costs down. Just when we're starting to make some real headway on this, the White House aides trot out to say well, a public option is ok but we are only sorta kinda behind it and won't demand it.

WTF???!!!

President Obama, if you cannot come out in public backing a Medicare-style, strong public option for ALL Americans, then please just SHUT UP and let us push for real health care reform.

Unless, of course, you want us to believe the stories about you cutting a deal months ago with the insurance industry, a deal that will include mandates to buy private insurance but without a public option, are absolutely true.


We will not accept that passing any bill, even a bad bill, is a victory.

[jwirr]

9. Openness is nice but do we really want the damn teabaggers yelling

all the way through these negotiations? Either President Obama will come out of these meetings with something the Unions and real Democrats can accept or he won't - it is all on his shoulders and he knows it.

[Epiphany4z]

11. after they are done doesn't it all come back out on to the

senate floor where the bill will gone over and talked about some more , amendments added ect...?

[Missie56]

12. Yes, and then to a conference committee with the House

[JDPriestly]

13. The House also has bills and some members are pledged to vote only

for a public option. Will anything good come of this?

The future of health care reform in this country could boil down to a struggle between a progressive House a conservative Senate.

At this time, there still is no bill to even talk about much less agree or disagree with. The Senate has dragged its feet. By there delay tactics, the Blue Dogs are insulting Obama -- putting him in his place. And by insulting Obama, the Blue Dogs are also insulting the majority of voters who elected Obama --

unless Obama is actually in favor of the Senate shenanigans. That is also a possibility since all the focus on health care reform has taken the attention of the American people away from some issues that are very uncomfortable for the Obama administration: the shameful bail-outs, the bad state of the economy and the torture and wiretapping issues.

Are we just watching another hoax reality show with a health care reform balloon and a missing Obama as the stars? Or is the whole health care reform really a serious thing? I hope the latter, but I'm beginning to wonder. Why can't these people confer in public? What are they hiding?

Months and months of public jockeying to show political muscle by tiny states like North Dakota and bastions of racism like Louisiana, and suddenly negotiations have to be conducted in private. It's disgusting. Politics as usual, and I am, once again, disappointed.

[jtedder]

14. Where is Jimmy Stewart when you need him?

The health care bill must have a public option. Do you remember Mr. Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life?" Think of the big insurance companies as Mr. Potter. Think of Jimmy Stewart and the Bailey Building and Loan as the public option. We need Jimmy Stewart and the Bailey Building and Loan so that people have someone to go to instead of crawling to Potter.

The health care bill must have a public option. Anything less than that is a defeat for President Obama,the Democratic Party and the American people. We can't let the Republicans and special interests win this one. "The Party of No" must be defeated.

Put the negotiations on C-Span.