CONGRESS: Slow Senate Pace Frustrates Some In House
Posted by papundits on 11/09/2009
by Billy House
At her celebratory news conference after Saturday’s narrow passage of the healthcare bill, Speaker Pelosi was asked if the grueling vote might have left her Democratic Caucus unable or unwilling to tackle other difficult issues, such as immigration reform.
“Are you Scrooge early?” Pelosi responded sharply. “I reject your premise. No.”
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| Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) |
But Pelosi’s healthcare victory this weekend marks the second time in four months – along with the climate-change vote in July – that she has pushed, prodded and bullied House Democrats to move ahead of the Senate on a politically difficult bill.
The Senate has yet to act on climate-change legislation and is not likely to do so until next year. Senate Majority Leader Reid is suggesting Senate action on a health bill might not come until December at the earliest.
Pelosi said she can’t worry about the Senate’s timetable, even though some rank-and-file House Democrats are out on a limb politically and angry at being pushed into potentially career-threatening votes.
And hearing Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and others declare the House bill dead on arrival in the Senate can only rub salt in their wounds.
“I don’t think there’s any question about that,” said Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Fla., who voted against the health bill but backed the climate bill and became a target of local protests. Boyd said he views himself as among those being on the hot seat at home.
Other Democrats, including some of Pelosi’s closest allies, describe a feeling of being burned in Saturday night’s rush to pass a bill. —
Abortion-rights leaders in the Democratic Caucus are upset the bill they voted on Saturday night included an amendment that they say will effectively ban abortion coverage in all health plans, private and public. It was a late concession by Pelosi to maintain the votes needed for passage.
“Such a terrible, last-minute amendment to a critical, historic piece of legislation is a shame,” said the co-chairwomen of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo.
For Pelosi, it all appears to be the cost of moving the process forward and trying to get the Senate to act.
At the same time, she seemed to make it clear Saturday night that the health bill being passed is just a first step, something on which “we will continue to seek common ground,” including on the abortion language.
Other Democrats who voted in favor of the health bill acknowledge a similar sentiment. Some say they voted for the bill to get the Senate moving, not because they like the legislation all that much.
“My vote is not an endorsement of all the provisions of the bill because I find much of the bill to be deeply flawed,” said Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn. “My reason for voting yes is to advance the cause of healthcare reform by forcing the Senate to act.”
If the House didn’t act, Cooper said, “the Senate could delay reform indefinitely.”
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