From Flopping Aces

You know the Obama administration is living in the ozone when they claim the Baucus bill is “bipartisan” because of one….ONE….Republican vote:

“Today we reached a critical milestone in our efforts to reform our health care system, the president said this afternoon,” speaking from the White House Rose Garden.

Although the bill drew an “aye” vote from one Republican senator, President Obama touted the bill as a proposal having both “Democratic and Republican support.”

“After the consideration of hundreds of amendments, it includes ideas from both Democrats and Republicans, which is why it enjoys the support of people from both parties,” he said.

The president thanked in particular the senator who cast the lone Republican vote, Sen. Olympia Snowe from Maine.

Democrat….er, “Republican” Senator Snowe caving to the Democrats is not surprising. Just look at her scorecard at Club For Growth:

Year Score Rank
2008 12% 63
2007 12% 66
2006 9% 62
2005 18% 56

No…not surprising in the least and I suppose the ignorant claim that her defection is proof that the bill is bipartisan should not surprise us either coming from this administration.

Worried?

You should be and this is not a time to let up on the pressure.

But there are still some optimists out there like CATO’s Michael Cannon:

But universal coverage is so expensive that Congress can’t get there without taxing Democrats.

• Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) is the biggest opponent of Sen. Max Baucus’ (D-MT) tax on expensive health plans because that tax would hit West Virginia coal miners.
• Unions vigorously oppose that tax because it would hit their members.
• Moderate Democrats in the House oppose Rep. Charlie Rangel’s (D-NY) supposed “millionaires surtax” because they know it would hit small businesses in their districts.

And on and on…

But if congressional leaders pare back those taxes, they lose the support of the health care industry, which wants its subsidies.

• That’s why the health insurance lobby funded this PriceWaterhouseCoopers study saying that premiums would rise under the Baucus bill: the $500 billion bailout they would receive isn’t enough. They also want – they demand – steep taxes on Americans who don’t buy their products.
• The drug companies, the hospitals, and the physician groups are likewise demanding big subsidies, and will run ads to kill the whole effort if those subsidies aren’t big enough.

~~~

Can President Obama and the congressional leadership satisfy both groups? My guess is, probably not, and this misguided effort at “reform” will therefore die. Again.

Since this bill is now out of committee it now has to be merged with the Senate HELP Committee’s even more socialist version then it needs to pass the Senate. Then the House needs to merge the three bills they have and that version needs to pass the House. If they both pass then they need to be merged into one gigantic bill and then must pass both chambers to get signed by the President.

Ya think it’s bipartisan enough with that one vote?

Myself, I don’t want to rely on hope.

Keep the pressure on folks.