Closed-door talks harm push for health reform
Sun 6/30/2013
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When is the proper time for Wisconsin representatives to decide on voting “yes” or “no” on a final version of the federal health care reform plan?
At one level, the answer depends on the legislator’s partisan and ideological affinities.
Hard-line conservative Republicans like Congressmen Jim Sensenbrenner and Paul Ryan are never going to vote for a government plan to get more care to more Americans. They threw in long ago with corporate special interests that say government can’t do anything right — even as they defend a system that leaves roughly 45 million Americans uninsured and another 45 million underinsured.
By the same token, progressive Democrats such as Sen. Russ Feingold and Rep. Tammy Baldwin were always all-but-certain votes for any government plan to establish a federal single-payer system or robust government-sponsored “public option” to compete with rapacious insurance conglomerates.
But now that significantly different reform measures have been passed by the House and Senate, the issue becomes more complicated. With single-payer off the table and the public option dead or dying, it would certainly be reasonable for Feingold, Baldwin and others to reconsider. Indeed, the bill — with its massive giveaways to insurers — might yet get so bad that Sensenbrenner could back it.
But there is another consideration that has less to do with policies than with process.
The decision of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to avoid using the traditional conference committee process to reconcile the two chambers’ bills means the final measure is likely to be cobbled together behind closed doors by power brokers preparing for difficult fall elections. That’s a recipe for compromises on principles and sellouts to lobbyists.
The lack of transparency, refusal of access for C-SPAN to the negotiations, and refusal of Democratic leaders to work in a democratic manner is appalling. Pelosi and Reid are not merely excluding “party of no” Republicans who oppose real reform; they are excluding “party of yes” Democrats who seek it.
By locking out most of their colleagues, the leaders are dismissing sincere players from across the ideological spectrum. They make it less likely the final proposal will be real health care reform, and more likely it will be a bailout for big insurance and pharmaceutical companies. And they foster confusion and distrust.
Worse yet, the leaders will likely rush their “compromise” proposal through the House and Senate before most members can review it properly.
Members of the Wisconsin delegation should neither embrace nor reject any piece of legislation until they have seen the finished product. They should demand the time necessary to consider the legislation. They should also ensure that the media — including C-SPAN, which should be permitted to broadcast the current negotiations — are able to analyze and comment on the bill. And they should tell Pelosi and Reid that no final votes can be taken until representatives and senators have returned to their home districts to hear the views of their constituents.
John Nichols is the associate editor of The Capital Times. [email protected]
Contact/Location
Julie Jones
MADISON, WI
715-857-5505