  Originally published 04:45 a.m., October 19, 2009, updated 08:58 a.m., October 19, 2009GOP strategy: Steer key groups against health plan
House Republicans are planning an interest-group strategy to try to stop a health care bill and will spend the next three weeks arguing that the Democrats' measure will be a bad deal for small businesses, senior citizens, and women and children. With Republican lawmakers vastly outnumbered in the chamber, party leaders say their best strategy is to sway the public against Democrats' health care plans. The best way to do that, they say, is to synchronize their messaging to focus on specific groups that could suffer from effects of the bill. "What we want to do in the coming weeks is have all 178 members redouble their efforts to take the case against a government takeover of health care to the four corners of this country," House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence said in an interview. "When we speak more in concert, our message tends to break through more effectively." Time is running out for Republicans to derail the legislation as Democratic leaders in both chambers work to merge the three House bills and two Senate bills. While Republicans in the Senate hope to slow the debate and use amendments to alter the final bill, procedural rules in the House make Republicans there virtually irrelevant. "What we have here is a desire to recognize that we are approaching some kind of a culmination point in this debate," said Mr. Pence, of Indiana. "They've gone from regular order to smoke-filled rooms so there's no real way of knowing when [the final bills] are going to emerge." Mr. Pence said his side of the aisle has broken down the three health care bills passed out of the House and their implications on seniors, families and businesses. They plan to highlight these themes in subsequent weeks by holding press conferences and town-hall meetings along with organized floor speeches and media appearances. House Democrats continue to hammer their GOP counterparts for lacking an official plan, though individual Republicans have introduced legislation. Consistently labeling Republicans the "party of no," Democrats say the American people are on their side. "The American people are so smart," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, told reporters last week. "I see some of the polls this week, 62-31 they support a public option." Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican-turned-Democrat, took aim at his former party on "Fox News Sunday," calling it "a party of obstructionism." "You have responsible Republicans who had been in the Senate, like Howard Baker and Bob Dole and Bill Frist, who say Republicans ought to cooperate," Mr. Specter said. "Well, they're not cooperating." Also Sunday, White House officials took a wait-and-see approach to the negotiations in Congress, declining to draw any lines in the sand on such matters as a public insurance plan, the insurance industry's antitrust provisions, or either capping or taxing "Cadillac" insurance plans. "There will be compromise. There will be legislation, and it will achieve our goals: helping people who have insurance get more security, more accountability for the insurance industry, helping people who don't have insurance get insurance they can afford, and lowering the overall cost of the system," senior adviser David Axelrod said. When Mr. Axelrod was asked on ABC's "This Week" whether President Obama would sign a bill that ends the antitrust exemption for the insurance industry and allows caps on premiums, he responded only: "We'll see what Congress does." Senate Republicans, meanwhile, refocused their attention Sunday on the president's role in the national debate. "We're still waiting for the president's plan," Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." "You know, he gave a joint session speech to Congress where he repeatedly talked about his plan, said if you like what you have, you can keep it." The Senate plan, he said, violates one of the central promises Mr. Obama made in that speech by adding $250 billion to the national deficit. "So far the president has let Democratic leaders in Congress basically run the show to the exclusion of any constructive Republican suggestions, which I think could be a way out of this in a way that would actually reduce the costs and make health care more accessible to more people, which ought to be our focus," Mr. Cornyn said. Mr. Pence said Republicans' messaging effort mirrors the coordinated approach they took during the debate over the president's budget, which they said "spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much." Though Democrats passed the $3.6 trillion proposal, Mr. Pence said, the strategy was successful. He said House Republicans have "the highest degree of unity" on health care, which he credited in part to an active August recess. Asked whether Republicans were engaging in tactics they have previously described as fear-mongering - notably, when Democrats warned that efforts by the George W. Bush administration to reform Social Security would harm seniors - Mr. Pence said it's "about educating the public." "Abraham Lincoln said, 'Give the people the facts and the Republic will be saved,' " he said. "This is really about making sure they understand the real implications of what Obamacare will mean to them and their families." • Tom LoBianco contributed to this report. What
else do you expect from the paty of NO? Be against anything and
everything the majority of Americans want. Just say NO. That is all
they have left.
1.)Not
Contitutionally legal for the Federal Government to require that evey
citizen buy a good or service. 2.)Takes away individual liberty. 3.)
Makes citizens dependant on government teet. 4.) Not proven to be
cheaper than free market system. 5.) We cannot afford the high taxes,
skyrocketing deficit and government run health care. 6.) We haven't
fixed the broken systems we already have such as Medicaid, Medicare, SS
and VA before adding a new Trillion dollar entitlement program.
A more constructive approach would be to
highlight weak points in the present bills and to suggest improvements.
"This
is really about making sure they understand the real implications of
what Obamacare will mean to them and their families."
==================================
If they actually did explain the "real implications", a Republican
would actually have to stop lying, ... and admit the plan makes huge
improvements..... don't expect that anytime soon. The American people
who COUNT.. really are smart. They will see through the coming LIES,
just like they saw through the lies about "death panels" etc.,.. and
the backlash will further diminish the CON party. Keep LYING and keep
SHRINKING....people hate liars.
Katrina,
like the hurricane you are bad for America. If anyone disagrees with
you or your liberal democratic party somehow we become the bad guys. I
would suggest that it is your party that is doing the damage to this
country just as your namesake did. The article was only wrong when it
said the interested parties would be "small businesses, senior
citizens, and women and children." EVERYONE is going to suffer, EXCEPT
for the very ones that will keep THEIR health care plan and force this
piece of crap upon the American people. The EXCEPTIONS are the
senators, congressman, and the mucky d mucks in the executive branch,
i.e., "The On" and his family. If it's so damn good for us and the rest
of the country, why is it they want nothing to do with it??
"munchkin
1.)Not Contitutionally [sic] legal for the Federal Government to
require that evey citizen buy a good or service....
==============================
REALLY???.......Please explain the fact you pay for the service of the
Military?... or many, many others.
Indeed
they should kill this bill because it is a terrible giveaway to the
insurance industry. But the industry will not like my suggested fix.
They should...
1) Kill whatever health care proposals are now in congress
2) Support a bill to allow corporations or individuals to opt into
Medicare. That's a true public option. 3) Provide up to a 100% subsidy
to individuals who are uninsured or under-insured
4) Work to pass HR676 and SB703 single-payer I'm sure that some of you
will prefer anything to nothing, but I feel just the opposite. I think
a bad bill is worse than no bill at all. At least for the moment. What
we are now seeing are bills that mandate coverage... a gigantic
transfer of wealth to the insurance companies eclipsed only by the 2003
Medicare Drug bill (which was a $780 billion gift). Jack Lohman ... http://MoneyedPoliticians.net
Speaking
of lies, let's look at some. "If you like your plan, you'll be able to
keep it", "We not going to cut Medicare benefits" "It's only going to
cost $829 BILLION" "It won't raise the deficit" "All Americans will
benefit from health care reform" "Illegal aliens will not be covered
under this plan" the list goes on and on.
"If
it's so damn good for us and the rest of the country, why is it they
want nothing to do with it??"
==================================
Apparently you didn't read the article. 63% support a public option.
I'll bet 80% support many of the other changes, such as stopping the
health insurance company scams. Then we have the 20%... the core
wackos...who would poke a stick in their own eye if they thought it
would hurt the Democratic Party.
And
incidentally, on the subject of single-payer, for the same amount of
dollars we are spending today (16.5% of GDP) we could provide
first-class Cheney-care to 100% of our population. Including those in
Medicaid, and those who are uninsured and under-insured. It’d be a
Medicare-for-all system that would eliminate the insurance bureaucracy
waste (31% of our costs) and we’d spend it on patient care instead.
We’d pay for the system through our national infrastructure (taxes) and
eliminate this cost for businesses. They could spend the wage-savings
on keeping jobs in the US instead of outsourcing to countries already
with universal healthcare. A bailout for 100% of our businesses, not
just the banks and car manufacturers. But instead, we are spending more
time and money trying to avoid doing it the right way, than it would
cost to do it correctly up front.
Sully, Katrina? How original.
"Capping
or taxing "Cadillac" insurance plans" will never see the light of day
unless the unions are exempt you can take that one to the bank!
DeltaT
reread my post. Congress and the executive branch ARE exempt from this
health care reform in EVERY bill that has been proposed. Strange how
you could miss that.
"jlohman
And
incidentally, on the subject of single-payer, ......."
=============================
While I generally support the idea, it doesn't look like this will
happen. Our spending level is outrageous and we could all have
excellent care for much less. Yes, we "spend" around 16% in an attempt
to get care. Huge portions are siphoned off for
profits..............Other nations deliver better care, and for much
less than our costs. The primary difference is that ALL use NON-profit
health insurance. There is absolutely NO benefit to having a profit
motivated middle-man in the system. You are correct about the benefits
to business. If we had developed a Universal Care system in 1912, as
recommended by T. Roosevelt (R).. there would not have been a vacuum in
providing health care .... filled by business after WWII. WHY are
employers in the health-care business? For now, at least we have a
start. This is much better than anything the Republicans have ever done.
|
SULLY