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The (Bi)partisan Baucus Bill

Posted by BLin on September 16th, 2009

Ezra Klein has a great post up on the finally-ready bill out of Max Baucus’ Senate Finance Committee. Punchline?Good framework with some bad elements.

The key thing to learn about the Baucus bill, though, is that it’s an example of what happens when you try to negotiate with Mike Enzi and Chuck Grassley.

Ezra:

At this time, Baucus has no Republican votes for his legislation. Olympia Snowe is a maybe, and Enzi and Grassley are pretty certain to vote against it. Conceding so much in return for so little isn’t just bad politics — it’s bad precedent. Why should Republicans sign onto Baucus’s proposals in the future if they can simply adjust the bill to their liking and then withhold their support at the end?

If Baucus’s Republican colleagues want to support this bill and give him some cover, their presence should be welcomed. But if not, Baucus should loudly and publicly allow the Democrats on his committee to strengthen the bill, as it will be a Democratic majority that passes the bill. A bipartisan group should shape a bipartisan bill. But a bipartisan group should not get to shape a partisan bill, particularly if that bill becomes partisan because they have abandoned it.

In 2001, Baucus helped shape the president’s tax cuts, and he voted for them. In 2003, he helped shape the Medicare Modernization Act, and he voted for it. He has upheld his end of the bargain of bipartisanship. Now is his moment to demand the same of his Republican colleagues.

Republicans have no interest in voting for any serious healthcare reform bill. It’s time to stop pretending otherwise, and pass the bill that Democrats can pass themselves.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 8:09 pm and is filed under Some Pulp. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

3 Responses to “The (Bi)partisan Baucus Bill”

  1. September 16th, 2009 at 11:57 pm

    BLin says:

    Not that I want to start a trend of commenting first on my own post, but I had a side note that I wanted to share that has nothing to do with the content of the post.

    Thanks to iPhone copy/paste and my newly discovered html tag usage in the WordPress iPhone app, I did this entire post on my iPhone while waiting for the nail in my tire to get patched. Pretty slick.

    Side note on the side note, Discount Tire repairs tires for free, even if you didn’t buy your tires from them. What’s the business model behind that? Not that I’m complaining, or anything, but it just seems odd to me.

  2. September 17th, 2009 at 9:10 am

    beej says:

    Is it that Democrats are mis-calibrated here, or just weak? I’m wondering if maybe they think people will punish them harshly if they are no inclusive. But I really think the backlash will be worse if they fail because they are too busy trying to get everyone involved.

    Wake up, we’d rather have an all-Democrat bill that works than a weak piece of trash bill everyone touched but no one can support.

  3. September 17th, 2009 at 2:47 pm

    brad says:

    Agreed. I’m tired of the GOP being so spiteful and uncompromising. They act like they forget that we’re in a democracy; a democracy where they were voted out of office consciously and intentionally. Please, GOP, slow your role.

    On Discount Tire: I bet it doesn’t take very many resources for them to repair your tire. And since they got you in the door, they’re probably betting that you’ll either buy something there or remember them in the future for great tire deals. Plus, they got some free adspace on JUICE!!!

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