So a lot of people are saying the House needs to pass the Senate healthcare bill, stat, and there's a lot of anger at the House progressives who are saying they won't. See Krugman in the regular column and then more bitterly in the blog.
Well, OK, fair enough. Yes, something needs to pass, and something will pass. But I wonder, what's the rush? Why does the House need to do this immediately? And why should House members say right away that they are going to swallow the House bill whole, without at least trying to get some of the worst elements of the Senate bill fixed in reconciliation?
Look at what Tim F. says here:
Critics are perfectly right to point out that the Senate bill that I
want to see passed is, at best, a shit-and-banana sandwich. That sounds
pretty bad except that (1) if Democrats don’t pass it then they might
as well stay home in November, and (2) the country is about to die from
potassium deficiency. I cannot stress enough how badly we need that banana
individual mandate and complete ban on pre-existing conditions and
rescission. Medicare reimbursement problems, the excise tax and
affordability questions are all problems that I think, meaning I
genuinely believe, are worth the price to get the bill’s key components
the bill enacted into law.
As I see it, Congress can repeal
the shitty parts of the bill any time but no politician can take away
the general right to health insurance and live. This is how it works
everywhere else in the world: citizens constantly petition government
to iron out problems but nobody ever, ever proposes to take the fundamentals away.
However,
with reconciliation the Senate can theoretically wash most of the shit
off any time they want. They can’t write a new bill, because the
fundamentals in the bill we already passed won’t work in
reconciliation, so the House still has to eat a shit and banana
sandwich. Nonetheless the Senate can give us an almost complete win if
they want it enough. Call your Senators.
(202) 224-3121....
Regarding what to say: we need a fix to Medicare reimbursement rates,
the excise tax and affordability and (what the hell, why not) the
Public Option passed through reconciliation. If the Senate commits then
the House will almost certainly reciprocate and Democrats will look
like winners who can deliver positive change or the country.
Right. Yes, the House Dems could pass the Senate bill as is right now. But the Senate Dems could also commit to getting together the 51 votes needed to put together a better bill. As Tim says, this would be better policy, and better politics.
After all, it need hardly be said that Joe Lieberman's explanation for why the MA election went the way it did has no foundation in anything other than his sociopathic egotism, and is indeed ass backwards -- what's killing the Democrats right now is in fact Faux-Centrist Liebermanism, as evidenced by post-election polls in MA (not to mention Lieberman's own spectacular unpopularity in his home state).
As far as I can tell, reconciliation wasn't even on the table before last Tuesday; now it's back, with even the wankerific Max Baucus making mumbling noises about how seems suddenly necessary. But wouldn't it come whoosh off the table again if House Dems said right now they'll take the Senate bill as is, without even a promise from Senate Dems that they'll consider it?
If progressives are going to apply pressure, it seems to me that it should be put on the Senate Dems, spineless as they are. They're the ones who have fucked up for the Democratic party's electoral chances most egregiously through their pompous dithering and general whorishness, they're the ones most deluded about what the public wants -- if the party is in a bad way, it's their fault. And they're the ones who need to be beaten, frankly, who need to be forced to make a concession.
Look at it this way. The House progressives might win, getting the Senate stuff fixed through reconciliation. Strong upside, electorally and in terms of, well, affordable healthcare. Or they might lose, and then just pass the Senate version as is. Which would happen sometime next month, with plenty of time still before November for spinning. Or they might let the whole thing collapse, which would be bad indeed (I don't see this as a likely outcome) -- from a policy standpoint. Electorally it'd probably be a wash, because if "Moderate" Senate Dems retain their outsized influence over what the party can do, Dems in both houses are headed into the toilet anyhow, even if Obama suddenly starts doing everything lefty bloggers want him to do.
I have to say, a lot of the anger at House Progressives seems kind of emotional -- as with this angry Yglesias post. Yglesias has rightly criticized the reprehensible Senate Moderates for acting like crazy irresponsible assholes who are causing a lot of damage. So I'm kind of perplexed as to why he would not want to see someone picking a fight with them from a progressive direction. If House progressives win, and get anything positive through reconciliation in the Senate, that's a loss for Liebermanism, a win for progressives, a win for the party, and a win for people who need affordable healthcare. If they lose, well, they can still pass the Senate bill. I dunno, maybe it's understandable anger at the screwups that led to last Tuesday's result, maybe it's an ingrained sense that Progressives couldn't possibly win anything, but I don't see why anyone would at this point be horrified at the House Dems taking this position.
So I can't agree with Scott that the House Dems are being irrational: what would be irrational would be just swallowing Senatorial "Moderate crap" without at least trying for something more nutritious. I guess I might change my mind if I hear a convincing argument for why the House Dems need to do this swallowing today, I'm going to save my anger for the Senate Dems, who are most at fault for the healthcare cockups (far more than Obama is, though I'm not happy with his performance here either) and who really need to lose a fight fairly soon before they drag the country down with them. That's why I'm calling my Senators before I call my Rep, and saving my vituperation, at least for the time being, at the Dem Senators, who most deserve it.
Besides, if the House were to pass the Senate thing today that to me would look like a panic move in response to Tuesday, not muscle-flexing, and would look pretty awful.