« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

FRONT PAGE CONTRIBUTOR

Schumer: no need for bipartisanship on health care.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  July 6th, 2009 at 07:47 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

He’s got those sixty votes, you see.  And he’s impatient.  Impatient of the way that people are still getting in the way of his shepherding of a health care plan that neither him nor his will ever have to use.

Schumer: With Franken Seated No Need To Compromise On Public Option

One of the leading Senate Democrats in the health care reform battle said that the seating of Al Franken has given the party the purpose and direction it needs to ensure that a public option for insurance coverage remains in any bill.

“If you did a consensus within the Democratic Party, you would find the level-playing-field public option to be the answer,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “And now that we have 60 votes, it seems to me like we don’t have to turn it inside out for something we don’t like.”

Well, that’s certainly blunt enough; so, shall we get on with it then, Senators?

That would be Senators Bayh, Bennett, Gillibrand, Lincoln, and Specter, mind you.  After all, none of you are scared of taking a firm position on an issue that’s splitting the country right down the middle, are you?

Moe Lane

PS: See also.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

Tags: ,

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • DavidSage

    I’m amazed the health care industry hasn’t started a major public relations campaign at putting the brakes on this, We’re talking about TRILLIONS of dollars that are going to be taken away from these private sector companies.

    Right now, they should be spending millions of dollars running ads, especially in districts where politicians are vulnerable. This is their very survival that is on the line, it would be an investment worth making to try and stop this.

    Is someone asleep at the switch?

  • DONTREADONME

    provide better coverage and service then the private insurance companies, I guess 34% of Americans believe PBS is better than say Fox, ABC, CBS or NBC.

    Really, I mean really, someone in this country has greatly failed the American public in teaching them what you get with Government run health care, anyone, Bueller, Bueller, Bueller. Thats it, 34% of Americans are stupid sheeple!

  • marshmom

    It kinda makes you wonder if they know something we don’t–good or bad.
    I know that the Clinton administration ran into fierce opposition from the US Chamber of Commerce and they’re standing firm once again, but can they still make a difference? I surely hope someone can.
    The AMA has made it clear what their objectives are for health care reform, but they haven’t exactly “come out” against any one idea that the admin. is pushing, which, I think, is bad. They’re too worried about affecting their “pull” if they speak out against this new public option. Heaven forbid they make any enemies in the process.
    I’m pretty convinced, however that they won’t have a solid 60 vote for health care. They hardly get that number for any bill.
    You can bet that no matter what, I’m burning up the phone lines to my senators………but then again, I live in Alabama. My senators always vote with the Republican majority.

  • IJB

    Let me spell it out for him:

    HE DOESN’T HAVE THE VOTES!

    First, they can’t count on Byrd & Kennedy (unless they know something we don’t, and I doubt they do).

    Second, they can’t count on at least the half-a-dozen ‘Red State’ Dems that Moe listed. (And that may be the *lower* limit, not the upper limit, of potential defectors.)

    Maybe this is just a bargaining position on his part.

    But, if not, I’m going to seriously start to question Schumer’s sanity – maybe his megalomania has finally gone to his head (and rotted away his brain…).

  • harpsichord

    Probably a European socialist spellingl.

  • bobojake

    with your banking scandal. When does the hearings under oath start for your fraudulent actions in the obama-schummmmmmmer, geithner, banking scandal.
    Democrats the NO-NO-ACCOUNTIBILITY PARTY.
    We will stop this freight train, it is the mafia in disguise and we know it.
    No more foney fraudulent programs out of you schummmmmmmmmmmmer.

  • ceili_dancer

    n/t

  • http://www.fredsnews.com Fred Maidment

    Isn’t that just a farce.

    No, I didn’t miss a question mark. That’s a statement.

    If the government is involved, it means the private sector can’t do the job. By definition, the playing field cannot be level for two reasons: 1) The government is providing a service that the private sector cannot provide profitably and 2) the government has no incentive to make a profit, so it can break even or lose money as long as it likes.

    If the playing field is level, then normal market competition is all that is necessary, and the government option isn’t, making it redundant.

    This “level playing field” garbage is just that, and it needs to stop. It’s an outright lie, and anyone with even a basic understanding of economics should get why.

  • penguin2

    my skin crawls. There is just something “evil” that emanates from him. My husband feels the same way. But, I think I get that feeling because I fear him. That’s what the leftists have done. Created a state of fear, by seeming all powerful.

  • smitch61

    He does not have the votes, and we will fight it all the way….to make sure he does not have the votes. Public option is socialism..

    YES YOU CAN??

    NOT WITHOUT THE FIGHT!!

  • red4ever

    WAPO is reporting breaking news that the major hospitals and the Senate Finance Committee reached an agreement to take less in Medicare payments over the next 10 years. which means the rest of us pay more to make up the losses.

  • Rapunzel46

    and intimidation….. congress holds the purse strings for much of this industry — too much of this industry.

  • http://cannedjam.com cannedjam

    dismantling of insurance based on market forces and the installation of universal health charity, under the guise of “fairness” all while refusing to call a spade a spade, eventually leaving us with a single payer system.

    By eliminating the assessment of risk, the assigning of costs based on that risk, and by preventing insurers from determining pre-existing conditions, you transform insurance into charity. And if you allow one system that does just that, and leave intact another parallel system, you are left with an overall system in which one group of people are paying twice, once for their own private health care and once again for everyone else in the other system. That will not last, it has nothing to do with competition, it is simply economics 101, even if the private sector is a better system no one could afford to pay for both; their only choice would be to abandon the one that is not mandated.

    This really makes me sick (no pun intended)

  • smagar

    He’s trying to get a few Senate Republicans to go along with him. By making it sound as if he’ll steamroller them unless they do things his way, he’s probably hoping a few will blink.

    We already know that you can make George Voinovich cry…that’s one right there. The Porkulus sisters make three.

  • bk

    They’ve seen what’s happened with banks and cars. They figure they’ll try to squeeze out a few bread crumbs rather than get completely steamrolled.