Sources say Waxman kicked some Blue Dog tail
By John Amato Saturday Jul 25, 2009 2:00pmThe word I'm hearing is that Rep. Henry Waxman kicked the Blue Dogs around over their health care obstructionism and the earlier reports of a deal being dead in the HOUSE is not the case. The Hill is reporting along those lines:
Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) says there is "no alternative" but to have healthcare legislation bypass his Energy and Commerce Committee if Blue Dog Democrats don't accept a deal worked out Friday.Waxman is now playing a game of legislative chicken with the Blue Dogs. He's hoping the inclusion of a study on Medicare reimbursement rates in the healthcare overhaul will be enough to placate the centrist Democrats, who say the government program short-changes hospitals and physicians in their rural districts.
If that’s not, the seven Blue Dogs could join with the committee's Republicans to "eviscerate" healthcare reform, and that’s something Waxman will not tolerate.
"I won't allow them to hand over control of our committee to Republicans," Waxman told reporters.
"I don’t see what other alternative we have, because we're not going to let them empower Republicans on the committee."
Is there anyone wondering why Waxman took over the EC&C Committee from Dingle? If he hadn't then the Blue Dogs would be running the show. Waxman is an excellent at legislature and obviously knew he needed to get things done.
Hullabaloo has much more:
The truth is that the Blue Dogs are slaves to entrenched power, serving the interests of powerful lobbies rather than the middle-income voters in their districts. Cutting subsidies to 300% of poverty level from 400% would make health care less affordable to working people - and it's only being considered in the House because Blue Dogs want to protect those making half a million a year from a surtax.
Which is why Waxman is absolutely in the right to do this. The Blue Dogs, cheered on by Republicans, are simply standing in the way of progress. You can tell because their arguments lack logic and coherence. They apparently got the President's MedPAC proposal in the bill, as part of a larger deal over reducing regional disparities in Medicare reimbursements, but other measures that reduce costs they resist. And measures that increase costs they favor. They exist at this point to be nothing more than sand in the gears.
At some point, I think you do have to pull the trigger. Matt Yglesias makes the moral case, that good legislation matters more than good process.
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Is the issue congressional control of medicare reimbursement as opposed to an independent panel setting reimbursement rates? Or is this about the public option(300k vs 400k),or reform in general. I think I know where the repubs stand, status quo with mandatory insurance coverage for all.
Is Waxman fighting for medicare reimbursement control in the same house bill that doesn't provide public option coverage until 01/01/2013?
conservative Democrats. The Blue dogs appear the successors to the boll weevil Democrats that worked with Ronald Reagan against progressive Democrats back in the 1980's.
Sometimes I wonder if Abraham Lincoln should have let the confederacy remain independent but bring the free African Americans up north, after they won the civil war. This way probably we would not have problems with Southern conservatives, the descendants of the slave owners.
The blog of the Liberal Democratic Party of the United States.
http://blog.democratz.org
Good going Waxman! Somebody buy that guy a nose job!
(sorry, I couldn't resist)
Waxman is whats wrong with this country. This treasonous piece of shit along with the rest of congress should go to hell. Wake up people it not dems or republicans they are the same. And the trash that voted for this ass in their district, thanks for screwing up the country. Go to hell Cali no bailouts from us taxpayers.
Call them what they are. They are not Democrats, moderate Democrats, or Centrist. They are conservatives. They used the word Democrat to get themselves elected and do the GOP bidding. We must get rid of them. If it causes us to lose seats, so what. They're already Liebermaning us.
That's how I think of them.
Ya know, if the democrats in congress were poker players, they'd NEVER win a hand.
I think from now on, whenever you quote an article that refers to these people as "centrist Democrats," you should add [sic].
Add [bullshit]. That would be more appropriate.
why arent the blue dogs called red dogs?
they are the lobbyist's tools.
Just call them dogs.
Waxman's "pep-talk" to the Blue Dogs is one thing, but the only thing that will get the Blue's attention will be serious and well-funded challenges from progressive Democrats in the primaries.
My only fear is is that Obama hasn't the stomach for it.
I love it when liberals get tough.
Waxman is the 800 pound gorilla in the Blue Dogs' face. Thank Goodness, we have a Waxman at the helm. Love Obama and give him all due credit for the push for decent health care in America, but it may be Waxman that pushes it over the top. Two key people the Republicans keep underestimating--Obama and Waxman.
Sure he did. Let's all hold out for that couple of heroic Dems that have been in Washington for decades, for if only given a chance, they are going to fight for the little guy. Waxman has been in Washington since 1975. Ted Kennedy since Jeebus was a teenager. If these two political heavyweights really gave a tinkers damn about bringing real healthcare reform to the people, it would have happened long ago. It's a scam. Good cop vs bad cop.
http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/2009/...
"Billy Tauzin is the main guy whose staff wrote the legislation on the prescription drug legislation knowing that it had a doughnut hole.
Billy Tauzin, the president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), said that the coalition has “helped foster much-needed bipartisanship and middle ground.” Tauzin was a founding Blue Dog who left the coalition and the Democratic Party to become a Republican in 1995. PhRMA’s Better Government Committee (its PAC) has donated more than $10,000 to the Blue PAC since 2005 (and had never donated to the PAC previously.
So far this year, the Blue Dog Political Action Committee is on track to shatter all its fundraising records; the total for the first six months of 2009 — more than $1.1 million — is greater than what was raised in the entire 2003-04 fundraising cycle. Furthermore, according to the Center’s analysis of CQ MoneyLine data, the energy, financial services, and health care industries have accounted for nearly 54 percent of the Blue Dog PAC’s 2009 receipts."
The Center’s story also reveals that PAC fundraising has increased in every cycle since the Blue Dogs founding in 1995. Between the 2005-2006 and 2007-2008 cycles, as fundraising for the National Republican Congressional Committee declined 33 percent and fundraising for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee grew by just 26 percent, the Blue Dog PAC more than doubled its receipts. In all, 357 political action committees donated to the Blue Dog PAC in 2007-2008, up from 223 in the previous cycle"
the new handle "Blue
DogCross Dems"The axe man cometh!
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