CNSNews.com - GOP Denounces Government-Run Health Care; Filibuster May Not Be Possible

CNSNews.com - GOP Denounces Government-Run Health Care; Filibuster May Not Be Possible

Health care will be crammed down our throats because the government knows what is best for you.
Ever feel like our government treats us like idiot children? If we started pushing back maybe they wouldn't. VOTE EVERY INCUMBENT OUT!
Contact the Congress and let them know you do not favor this bill.


(CNSNews.com) – Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee Monday denounced the Democratic health care reform plan, which President Obama insists must contain a “public option” for the uninsured, calling it government-run health care.




The question now, however, is whether GOP senators can – or will – stop the Democrat-controlled committee and Senate from passing the bill.

Nine Republicans on the committee sent a letter to the White House Monday as a warning that a government-run health care system would do the American people more harm than good.

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking Republican on the committee, along with Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah); John Kyl (R-Ariz.); Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho); Pat Roberts (R-Kan.); John Ensign (R-Nev.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) warned the president that a government-run plan would cost the American family more harm than good, because it would take away their preference of private health coverage.

“At a time when major government programs like Medicare and Medicaid are already on a path to fiscal insolvency, creating a brand-new government program will not only worsen our long-term financial outlook but also negatively impact American families who enjoy the private coverage of their choice,” they wrote.

“Washington-run programs undermine market-based competition through their ability to impose price controls and shift costs to other purchasers,” the senators added.

Democrats, who run both the House and the Senate, are considering health care propositions, drafted by Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), that include employers covering all full-time workers or pay a penalty to the federal government.

In addition, they are also considering a “health exchange” aimed at making insurance coverage affordable and provide a “public plan”—a government-run option to cover those who cannot afford private insurance as well as create new taxes to pay for universal coverage.

The Republicans say that including a public plan isn’t needed.

“Forcing free market plans to compete with these government-run programs would create an unleveled playing field and inevitably doom true competition,” the letter said, adding, “The end result would be a federal government takeover of our health-care system, taking decisions out of the hands of doctors and patients and placing them in the hands of a Washington bureaucracy.”

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the 10th GOP senator on the committee, did not sign the letter. Snowe has been trying to reach a compromise with both sides and has indicated that she supports public healthcare as an option of last resort if healthcare does not become accessible and affordable.

“When broad health reform is enacted, Americans will rightly expect results . . . so when reforms are enacted and implemented, if individuals are not offered affordable choices, the use of a fallback public plan as a last-resort plays a critical role,” Snowe said in a statement.

In order to stop the bill, however, all Republicans would need to vote in favor of a filibuster – or blocking maneuver – which means the GOP will have to keep those Republicans – like Snowe – who tend to squeeze to the other side of the aisle from doing so.

If Snowe decides to support the Democratic measure, Senate Republicans say they would lose their party’s power to filibuster, unless they can attract some conservative Democrats.

At this moment, according Enzi’s office, the assumption among Senate Republicans is that the Democrats have the votes needed to pass the bill without bipartisan support.

“You have to assume that they have the votes to get it through. As far as we can see, it looks like they can get it through on a narrow margin,” Craig Orfield, Enzi’s press secretary, told CNSNews.com. “Perhaps a substantial margin, but certainly they got the vote for a narrow margin between 51 and 55 votes.

“Everything they’re doing so far in term of sharing information seems to indicate they’re not interested in a truly bipartisan bill,” he added.

Baucus and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who is expected to take over for the failing Kennedy, as chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, say they intend to have the Democratic health care bill on the Senate floor before the August recess.

“We intend to ensure that our committees report similar and complementary legislation that can be quickly merged into one bill for consideration on the Senate floor before the August recess," a May 30 joint statement reveals.

Meanwhile, Enzi criticized the Democrats for trying to push health care reform through on, what they call, an “arbitrary deadline.”

“I am disappointed in the focus that some Democrats have placed on meeting arbitrary deadlines over getting the legislation done right,” Enzi said.