After months of committee meetings and hundreds of hours of heated debate, the United States Congress remained deadlocked this week over the best possible way to deny Americans health care.
“Both parties understand that the current system is broken,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Monday. “But what we can’t seem to agree upon is how to best keep it broken, while still ensuring that no elected official takes any political risk whatsoever. It’s a very complicated issue.”
“Ultimately, though, it’s our responsibility as lawmakers to put these differences aside and focus on refusing Americans the health care they deserve,” Pelosi added.
The legislative stalemate largely stems from competing ideologies deeply rooted along party lines. Democrats want to create a government-run system for not providing health care, while Republicans say coverage is best denied by allowing private insurers to make it unaffordable for as many citizens as possible.
Here is the math on the public option-
There are exactly 17-19 people, in the whole country, who are holding up heathcare reform. The house of representatives wants it, and has ample numbers to pass it. The presidents says he prefers a public option. Finally, in the senate, by even Kent Conrad’s whip count, 41-43 senators of 60 democrats (over two-thirds) will vote for a public option. By my count, that leaves 17-19 senators standing in the way of passing this thing!
It’s not 100 house members holding up what the majority of democrats want. It’s 17-19 senators. 4 out of 5 bills under consideration contain the public option. The republicans don’t count here, and refuse to participate.
Why not put the whole weight of the arm twisting on the 17-19 senators? We have the majority of democrats in all 3 branches of government in favor of a public option. The progressives, labor unions, the AARP, and 71 percent of democrats in general favor it. Yet, 17-19 people can hold up reform ?
Time to explain it to them in terms they can understand. Fall in line,or lose party financial support, labor will sit on their hands in your next election, and you will face primary opponents.
Give them a bone if they play along. This is politics, as practiced for long as history remembers.
Well said, Mr Freukes.