Sen. Franken says Mass. election upset will shift health care debate

[a kennedy]

by Tim Nelson, Minnesota Public Radio

St. Paul, Minn. — U.S. Senator Al Franken says he and other Democrats in the Senate will meet this morning to gauge the impact of yesterday's Senate election upset in Massachusetts.

The win by Republican Scott Brown will eliminate the Democrats' filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

Franken said he doesn't think Democrats will try to rush a deal with the House through the Senate before Brown's election is certified.

"This is a substantial enough victory that he should be seated as soon as legally possible," Franken said. "He won by 100,000 votes, which was about 100,000 more votes that I won by."

Franken said he thinks health care reform was part of the reason Brown won but added that he thinks hesitant voters will ultimately be happy with the health care plan.

<http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/01/20/franken-reacts-to-mass-election-upset/?refid=0&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MPR_Politics+%28Politics+from+Minnesota+Public+Radio%29>

[marmar]

1. I do see this as an opportunity to re-do the health care plan and make it progressive.....

.....Eliminate these ridiculous mandates and offer Medicare-for-All. And then DARE the Repigs to go against it.

....that's assuming the Dems have any cajones.

[Walk away]

4. Are you kidding? The Pukes would love to!

Face it. This is their moment in the sun. They were ecstatic to obstruct even the corporatist version. They will gleefully block anything more progressive. And they will still blame the failure to pass HCR on the Democrats.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Ask yourselves this: What would Republicans do in this situation?

They'd say "Fuck you, Democrat Party" and rush through whatever pet legislation they wanted before the new Senator was sworn in. Why are the Dems being so polite? I DON'T WANT POLITE. THIS IS WAR!

[fascisthunter]

3. they'd start over again and ram it through

with whatever means necessary. Then they put crdible talking heads out their to silence the opposite sides arguments.

[Johonny]

17. I hate to agree

but I do. Republicans would pass it. Actually if Republicans had 60 vote majority it would have passed last summer... Dems need to pass it and move on or kill it and move on. This issue can not last much longer into this election year.

[Tailormyst]

5. They need to trash it and start over

and this time NOT give in to all the corporations and RWers. If they passed a good strong HEALTHCARE bill, people would respect them. Right now they look like spineless lap dogs.

[TwilightGardener]

6. They're not going to do that. If this doesn't pass soon, in some form, it's over.

[Tailormyst]

14. If they had a backbone they would

But I agree, they aren't going to do it. They are going to shove through the worthless piece of crap they have now and we are going to get slaughtered come November.

[invictus]

8. +1

[lumberjack_jeff]

7. Massachussets already has the health care plan.

People who want to use this vote as a referendum on healthcare tend to miss that point. They already got theirs.

[harkadog]

11. If the people in MA are happy with their plan

we should just copy that plan.

[MineralMan]

9. It may be time to break this bill up into chunks. There are parts

of it that, if rejected by the GOOPers, would hurt them badly in the 2010 elections. Break out the parts that really help people, like the pre-existing condition ban, childhood coverage, and other elements that will have broad popular support. Get that stuff passed, then start working on a Medicare for All package.

[thereismore]

10. I think I'm going to second that. Just get the pre-existing condition out, etc. nt

[Walk away]

12. No one is going to be able to afford the premiums with a pre-existing condition...

without the rest of the bill.

[thereismore]

16. Yes, there is that. Sorry. nt

[bullwinkle428]

13. YES - multiple votes on specific elements, with the opportunity

to use the Repukes' "NO" votes against them in the Congressional campaign this fall! :woohoo:

[FarCenter]

15. The reason that it is large and complicated is all the trade offs between special interests

and their supporters in the Senate and House. Only a small fraction of the current bill could get to 50% passage in the House and 60% passage in the Senate.

[kestrel91316]

18. Wrong, Barney. It will END it. We now lack the votes to pass ANY HCR whatsoever.