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Pressure on Baucus
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06/10/09 01:05 PM ET
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has taken to healthcare reform with rare passion. It may not be the cause of his life, as Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) says it is of his, but still, the Montanan is approaching this monumental task with a vigor and enthusiasm that is striking.
That is good, because all eyes are now on him and on the nature of the legislation he produces. He is under pressure, perhaps not just from the left but also from his leaders, to include a strong government-run healthcare insurance option in the bill he marks up this month.
Kennedy’s Health committee, presided over temporarily by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), has released an early draft bill that includes just such a strong public option. The three committees of jurisdiction in the House are working together to produce a single bill, unveiled in outline this week, which also includes a federal option that pleases the left.
So the shape of the House bill and one of the Senate bills is known — and both contain the public option that is anathema to Republicans and arouses skepticism even among centrist Democrats.
Which means, as noted, that everyone is now looking at Baucus.
The senator works so closely with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that the running joke on Capitol Hill is that they are married. And no Democrat forgets and many refuse to forgive Baucus for his decision in 2003 to support President Bush’s Medicare prescription drug benefit. The left does not trust Baucus.
He seems bound to include a public option in his bill; how strong and substantial will it be? If it designed to entice people out of private-sector insurance plans, Republicans will hate it and the chances of the final bill passing with broad bipartisan support will be slim. Baucus has said the success of reform depends on securing wide agreement about the system that is put in place.
On the other hand, he can tell which way the tide is running and does not want to find himself at odds with the massed ranks of his own party.
Much may depend on his boss, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Reid has not snatched control of the issue from his committee chairmen, but he knows that healthcare will be the signature achievement of 2009 if it is passed, and the signal failure of the year if it stumbles.
As June ticks away, therefore, pressure on Baucus is certain to intensify.
That is good, because all eyes are now on him and on the nature of the legislation he produces. He is under pressure, perhaps not just from the left but also from his leaders, to include a strong government-run healthcare insurance option in the bill he marks up this month.
So the shape of the House bill and one of the Senate bills is known — and both contain the public option that is anathema to Republicans and arouses skepticism even among centrist Democrats.
Which means, as noted, that everyone is now looking at Baucus.
The senator works so closely with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that the running joke on Capitol Hill is that they are married. And no Democrat forgets and many refuse to forgive Baucus for his decision in 2003 to support President Bush’s Medicare prescription drug benefit. The left does not trust Baucus.
He seems bound to include a public option in his bill; how strong and substantial will it be? If it designed to entice people out of private-sector insurance plans, Republicans will hate it and the chances of the final bill passing with broad bipartisan support will be slim. Baucus has said the success of reform depends on securing wide agreement about the system that is put in place.
On the other hand, he can tell which way the tide is running and does not want to find himself at odds with the massed ranks of his own party.
Much may depend on his boss, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Reid has not snatched control of the issue from his committee chairmen, but he knows that healthcare will be the signature achievement of 2009 if it is passed, and the signal failure of the year if it stumbles.
As June ticks away, therefore, pressure on Baucus is certain to intensify.
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