Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Howard Dean: 'Kill The Senate Bill'
In a blow to the bill grinding through the Senate, Howard Dean bluntly called for the bill to be killed in a pre-recorded interview set to air later this afternoon, denouncing it as “the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate,” the reporter who conducted the interview tells me.
Dean said the removal of the Medicare buy-in made the bill not worth supporting, and urged Dem leaders to start over with the process of reconciliation in the interview, which is set to air at 5:50 PM today on Vermont Public Radio, political reporter Bob Kinzel confirms to me.
The gauntlet from Dean — whose voice on health care is well respsected among liberals — will energize those on the left who are mobilizing against the bill, and make it tougher for liberals to embrace the emerging proposal. In an excerpt Kinzel gave me, Dean says:
“This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate. Honestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House, start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill.”
Kinzel added that Dean essentially said that if Democratic leaders cave into Joe Lieberman right now they’ll be left with a bill that’s not worth supporting.
Dean had previously endorsed the Medicare buy-in compromise without a public option, saying that the key question should be whether the bill contains enough “real reform” to be worthy of progressives’ support. Dean has apparently concluded that the “real reform” has been removed at Lieberman’s behest — which won’t make it easier for liberals to swallow the emerging compromise.
- Posted in
97 Comments so far
Show Allcamus13
The Medical Bill.
"Silently the corpse awaited the autopsy."
2666 Roberto Bolano
Contact your Democratic Party US Senators now and tell them to vote against the bill.
You can bet Obama is sweet talking them into supporting it. Your voice needs to be louder than Obama's.
Dean should have made this call weeks ago. Nothing has been worth supporting since single payer was removed from consideration.
Dean also needs to embarrass Harry Reid into taking away Lieberman's committee positions.
q
Quite right.
Do you think Obama will come to Lieberman's rescue again? Actually, I'd love to see that and hear the reaction of outrage. As Lieberman is being skewered -- and rightly so -- over at HuffPo, Obama is, as usual, getting a pass, so I saw fit to remind the good little bots who is responsible for Lieberman still having a chairmanship -- and, of course, got skewered by those with very short memories. It has been a long, ugly 11 months.
Obama and Lieberman are kindred spirits.
Gov. Dean tells he truth. A cave in to Leiberman would be shameful. If health care reform collapses the self serving Leiberman will be Mr. Collapse.
Exactly. Lieberman, Emanuel & Obama et al want a trophy. Denying them this trophy will be a win for the people because all the millions the lobbyists paid to fashion this crap will be lost to the insurance crooks.
The insurance crooks will simply make up for their lost lobbying costs by increasing premiums and digging up more loopholes to deny claims. Either way, pass or fail...we the peasents get screwed.
"which won’t make it easier for liberals to swallow the emerging compromise."
What compromise? Bottom line - our chances for universal medical care* for all Americans were dim at the beginning, slight in the middle, and non-existent at the end.
TY to Dean for speaking clearly and forcefully.
* It hasn't been 'health care' for at least half of us for a very long time. Both access to services and the quality of services rank quite low in the world. I reserve the term 'health care' for what I provide for myself.
My neo-liberal co-workers will criticize Dean for this action Dean has taken that demonstrates a lack of solidarity with the DNC.
Dean is one of the few populists who hasn't been relegated to Siberia or kicked out of the party. Keep up the good work Howard Dean, you were the last Democrat I voted for !
Even with the "Public Option", the Bill should be killed.
The debate has been neutered so much by Obama and his corporate thugs to the point that the only ones it really benefited were B-Pharma and the Insurance Industry. The so called public option was to only effect a minimal percentage of the population, and in effect it would mandate Americans purchase insurance. The bill in turn would create a bigger customer base for the insurance industry to bilk. The whole debate was a farce from the beginning.
The Real News had a video interview last Spring where Howard
Dean was challenged for refusing to support Single Payer.
Dean kept on saying good things would happen along the way
in Congress, whereas the reporter had a clear vision of the
future and kept pointing out how impossible it was for things
to do anything but go bad.
i know only mel gibson, were he a liberal, would compare joe to judas, so let's just say joe's a real benedict arnold who ought to leave the democratic party forthwith. of course, after obama's escalation speech at west point, one can say that obama wasn't the first american to sell out his country at west point; so did bendict arnold, with the help of british major john andre.
Kill the lobbyists
Kill the bill, and relegate Lieberman to an office in the Senate basement.
Universal single-payer health care for all. Now.
From Harper’s Index, September 2009:
- Percentage change since 2002 in average premiums paid to large US health-insurance companies: +87%
- Percentage change in the profits of the top ten insurance companies: +428%
- Chances that an American bankrupted by medical bills has health insurance: 7 in 10
Public option is not an option. Only support single payer health care (medicare for all).
There is one already on the books, H.R.676 - United States National Health Care Act or the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, though is was intentionally never moved forward.
If you want more information on it go to
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h676/show
Those clamoring for a 'public option' are almost as bad as Lieberman, as the public option is a move away from medicare for all program as opposed to a step closer. It will further entrench the insurance industry control of our health care.
I cannot get insurance for myself due to a preexsisting condition.
Single payer or single term.
Right on!
Rx: At long last, you have a sense of humanity! THANK YOU, Doctor Dean!!
The House Bill was rotten to the core, and so is the Senate version.
What we have here is simply a giveaway to the insurance companies worth 100s of billions in new business a year. Millions of new customers forced to buy a shoddy product that is the most expensive in the world. The rest will receive a subsidy to be handed over to the insurance companies.
Hey when you spend a million dollars a week bribing Congress, it pays off eh?
I just called my Senators in D.C. and told each Senator's staff person:
"This is XX, calling from XX.
I'm a liberal and I voted for Senator XX.
I'm calling to let him/her know I'm with the 60% of Americans who want a single-payer, Canadian-style health insurance system.
I also want him/her to know I am strongly opposed to any mandate that individuals buy health insurance from private companies. That would be a giant step backwards.
I'm with Physicians for a National Health Plan and others who want to scrap the current bills and start over on a single-payer system.
I'll be watching closely to see how the Senator votes on these issues."
I Bet he mails you a bus ticket to Toronto.
It just gets worse and worse:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/15/durbin-medicare-buy-in-is_n_393124.html
Good for Dean. BETTER TO RAISE HELL NOW THAN LET IT PASS. Even if it's very late.
Refining a broken bill is very hard, and absolutely nobody's going to be impressed with a rotten faux bill.
Obama, if he had the guts, should just call a halt to the whole thing and kill the process. Call in an airstrike on the Senate, just put this corpse back in the ground. Then, they should deal with Lieberman and the rest of the Republicrats. This presidency is getting to be truly pathetic. Obama doesn't even try to maintain the pretense of having principles, he seems just as comfortable openly displaying himself as the Manchurian Candidate.
Obama HAS principles...he is consistently loyal to the corporations.
An "airstrike on the Senate" is a capital idea; I see nobody there worth the air they consume, with the possible exception of Sanders.
Obama is the chief Republicrat. He's on the same page as Lieberman with health insurance.
He starts off great: “This is essentially the collapse of health care reform..." and then he lost me. Is he saying go back to the really terrific bill the House had already come up with? With its mandatory buying of a defective insurance product that you won't even be able to afford to use to get care with? Where we have Stupak bending us over instead of Lieberman?
There is no reform. It doesn't exist. Congress, heal thyself first. Ya have the money sickness. No good can come from you until you go on a course of penicillin.
Don't forget the last bit:
"...go back to the House, start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill."
Nothing in this is explicitly false, but the implication is that there is NO WAY to get around the B.S. "pseudo-filibuster" Rule 22 that means a 60 vote majority is "needed".
Keep in mind that in order for the Dems to CHANGE Rule 22 they would ALSO "only need 51 votes".
The deeper problem in Congress is that the Dems are hiding behind the public's misunderstanding -and the media's misrepresentations- of how Senate rules work and what the filibuster was and could easily be again. They do this in order to make their crushing majorities seem not so. Thereby letting them off the hook to get anything they were elected to get done, done, and hopefully shifting all the blame to the Repubs and Independents like Lieberman.
Looking at some of the posts in this thread, it seems they have partially succeeded.
Will they actually act like a Congressional Majority if they go from a "mere" FIFTY-EIGHT Senators to Sixty or more following the 2010 elections?
I think they are hoping this year's poor showing and next year's likely one will swing the vote back towards the Repubs and we, the people, never find out (because the answer can only be "no" if they are to not betray their Corporatist and Oligarch masters).
-matti.
"Nothing in this is explicitly false, but the implication is that there is NO WAY to get around the B.S. "pseudo-filibuster" Rule 22 that means a 60 vote majority is "needed".
Keep in mind that in order for the Dems to CHANGE Rule 22 they would ALSO "only need 51 votes"."
This is a big deal and thanks for mentioning it. All day I've been musing whether or not this super-majority condition has Constitutional Authority, and I suspect that it doesn't.
I will read more. Thanks again, good post. Yes, they are THAT evil. Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get us.
The US Senate is about to pass another piece of legislation that will legally steal hundreds of billions of US taxpayer money and give it to private interests.
Like the Mafia telling us
"Nothing personal, this is business"
Dean is right I know Bernie Sanders will not vote for this piece of garbage
Yes I agree Bernie is one of the few good guys . This bill is way too weak- watered down and worth zilch.
It forces folks to buy private insurance from the same crooks who screwed us for eons.
We must ALL Tell Obama often - what we demand - fire Robt Rubin '& Goldman's alumni - Gietner- Somers- Bernacki . Rahm is NOT on OUR side- he will cut any deal just to say he did something
Rahm - Go back home to Chicago .
Contact Obama NOW www.whitehouse.gov 202 456 1111
"Rahm - Go back home to Chicago ."
Nah. He belngs in Hell, not Chicago.
Kill this Bill NOW!!!!
It sucks!!!!
Send a BIG FU to Mr. Rahm Emanuel who is behind this evil bill!!!!
Perfect health for over 35 years and not one penny have I
sent on doctor bills, not for me or my family of five.
Eat healthy or be slave to butcher medicine, that’s what I
always say.
Good point. Eating a plant-based diet will ward off many of the ills that require participation in our twisted "healthcare" system, including cancer. Heal thyself because there is no single payer healthcare in our future.
May I second that eating a plant-based diet is important? In more ways than one, that's for sure! For ethical, environmental, and health reasons.....
Plant-based proteins are absorbed by the blood stream compared to the meat based proteins. Since Kucinich is a vegetarian and has a strong heart for single payer health care, I wonder how many of the pols currently sitting would have a heart like Kucinich for health care for all if their meaty diets got replaced with plant-based ones.
I applaud Dr Howard Dean!
He has worked VERY hard on this & kept us abreast on key issues.
Obama made a grave mistake when he appointed Kathleen Sebelius instead of Dr Dean...
And We the people are paying the price!
I voted for Obama, but this is NOT the 'Change' I thought we'd get...
I am VERY UNhappy with him so far & the lack of governing by Democrats!
We have the majority in The House, The Senate, & The Oval for WHAT???
Joe LIEberman is riding rough shod & holding them hostage..
Take his power AWAY, strip him.
'Kill The Senate'
Kill this bill.
Single payer or single term.
I like many here on CD can write.
I pledge to write letters to the editors of all papers in my area during the next election cycle detailing the actions of my senators and representatives who do not produce single payer health care. I will work to have them removed as supposed representatives of the people.
Will you join me?
Very sympathetic, but for the gratuitous 'emphatic language'. But I think all this really means is that we have to elect more Democrats in 2010. That and get Lieberman assigned to the Senate Ethics Committee and invite him to run for re-election in 2012 as a Republican.
More democrats? You're kidding right? Let's see, dem president, dem majorities in both houses. hmmmm
Folks, all of this is political theatre. The Dims and Repugs have no intention of improving health care. They make it appear they are doing something constructive (cough), but it all is political posturing. There is no way they will pass anything to help the public because that means fewer $$$ from the lobbyists and health care companies in their campaign coffers. How about not only killing the bill, but killing and redesigning the dysfunctional political system??
gracchus: I couldn't be more in agreement. The cynicism of an Administration and a majority party in Congress demanding a bill that they know damn well will not pass, and which their fat-cat donors will not permit them to pass, almost surpasseth understanding. The pillorying of Lieberman and the elevation of Dean to heroic stature reflect "parts" being played in the theatrical script which demands the appearance of reform to satisfy the "liberals" (that boobocracy of the easily-fooled) by allowing the bill which nobody really wants to die, after which they will reap the rewards of their handlers (re-election funders), all the while blaming the whole failure of an enterprise designed to fail on Joe Lieberman or Ben Nelson or Bart Stupak. Is that too convoluted a plot? The sub-plot in this is that there has to be a much-delayed decision, including Dr.Dean's "back to the drawing board" solution so that the contending parties can continue to draw their profits from those attempting to influence the outcome. And I don't mean just Big Pharma and the insurance and medical care lobbies. The "grassroots" will be mined as well for contributions to sustain their cash cows from the gullible liberals. Already today I've received a breathless exhortation from MoveOn to contribute still more money to them (as if I had ever contributed any money) to help buy campaign ads to convince the voters of CT to unseat Joe L. Edward Moneybags is the playwright who authored this script and there are juicy roles for monetary profit for all parties involved----except of course for the American people for don't get a part in this play, and who won't get a whit closer to affordable and quality health care as the theatre of the absurdly commercial politics grinds its way to a conclusion---or really to just another sequel in a never-ending dramatic series.
Thank you. It's perfect. This assessment couldn't be more on the money, so to speak.
I wrote this before it was officially revealed (though I knew of course) who was behind the latest cave in...
-----------------
Without support from the White House- Senator Reid and others have fought for inclusion of choice in the Senate version of the health care reform package. Choice refers to offering a public insurance option to the mandated private insurance option now under discussion. The later is effectively a give-away to the health insurance industry. Without a countervailing public option- the public is at the mercy of the private health insurance industry. Already enjoying an effective monopoly- the industry will be able to dictate rates, curtail plans by exploiting loopholes and achieve excessive profits (at the expense of the insured). Further there will be no effective control over the growth of health care spending as a percentage of GDP- resulting in spiraling rates that could potentially bankrupt individuals and the federal government.
Recently a compromise was proposed that extended Medicare to those between 55 and 65 and expanded Medicaid to the poor. In return, the public option was abandoned. This compromise was a major strategic blunder by Democratic leaders. Now it appears, due to opposition from future health care lobbyist Senator Joe Lieberman and others- that even the extension of Medicare and Medicaid is dead- with the public option already given away.
The Democrats must take a stand. They must oppose health care reform without either a strong public option and/or the expansion of existing programs such as Medicare and Medicaid to cover those most at risk. Their position should in fact be an expansion of Medicare to Americans of all ages- effectively embracing a single payer plan.
The idiots in Washington, D.C. have no idea regarding how mad the American people are nor do they care. The government is controlled by the mega corporations and is never going to willingly respond to the needs of the citizens. The one thing that we can do is organize and hold massive demonstrations in the streets. In response, the government will send its goons to beat, intimidate and send us to jail. Nevertheless there are far more of us than them and we must recognize that civil disobedience is our greatest power. It's time for the parasites to go.