HR3200 Universal Health Care - Barely Clears Committee – How Your Represented Voted - Analysis

The Obama administration’s health care bill narrowly passed the final committee and will not go to a vote on the House Floor after the summer break. The bill was approved along partisan lines – not voting in favor of the bill were the following Blue Dog Democrats:

• John Barrow (GA)
  
• Rich Boucher (VA)
  
• Jim Matheson (UT)
  
• Charlie Melancon (LA)
  
• Bart Stupak (MI)
  

While the following Democrats did vote for the Bill:

• Edward Markey, MA
  
• Henry Waxman, CA
  
• John Dingell, MI
  
• Frank Pallone, NJ
  
• Bart Gordon, TN
  
• Bobby L. Rush, IL
  
• Anna Eshoo, CA
  
• Eliot L. Engel, NY
  
• Gene Green, TX
  
• Diana DeGette, CO
  
• Lois Capps, CA
  
• Mike Doyle, PA
  
• Jane Harman, CA
  
• Jan Schakowsky, IL
  
• Charles A. Gonzalez, TX
  
• Jay Inslee, WA
  
• Tammy Baldwin, WI
  
• Mike Ross, AR
  
• Anthony D. Weiner, NY
  
• G.K. Butterfield, NC
  
• Baron P. Hill, IN
  
• Doris O. Matsui, CA
  
• Donna M. Christensen, VI
  
• Kathy Castor, FL
  
• John P. Sarbanes, MD
  
• Christopher S. Murphy, CT
  
• Zachary T. Space, OH
  
• Jerry McNerney, CA
  
• Betty Sutton, OH
  
• Bruce L. Braley, IA
  
• Peter Welch, VT

Changes or agreements to the original bill HR 3200 PDF contents here include:

• Granting 12 years of market protection to pharmaceutical companies marketing drugs to treat cancer and Parkinson’s. (The White House hoped to give generic versions the nod.)
  
  
  
• The government will not sell its insurance in competition with private industry, a big loss for the consumer.

Under the Bill’s current structure, insurance companies could not exclude pre-existing conditions, and the federal government will extend subsidies (taxpayer dollars) for those families that cannot afford insurance. Additionally, abortions providers must accept federally funded patients (taxpayer dollars), and there is an ongoing rift among the progressive wing of the Democrat Party under the leadership of House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and those Democrats who would prefer to hold onto their jobs and vote with those Republican’s who are in favor of a free-market approach to healthcare, which, as polls, show, a majority of American’s favor.

The entire program would not be available until 2013, which may (according to current swift changes in the political climate), see a change in the administration and both houses. With that in mind, should the House pass the bill (although out of committee, the bill, once on the floor, will continue to face resistance), it will still need to go to the Senate, where the measure could not make it out of committee before the summer break. Embattled Incumbent, Harry Reid, once again turned to blaming the Republican’s for the lack of progress – Reid and his counterpart in the House, Pelosi, prefer to rush bills through committees, push them to the floor for a vote, without giving time for members of both houses to even give a swift perusal of contents. The result: haste makes waste.

The dismal failure, fraud and pork attached to the First Stimulus as a result of a quick read or no read at all, allows one to understand why Incumbent Democrats, let alone Republicans, who face competition in 2010 may not be so inclined to rush through another one of Obama’s “sky is falling” “Acts”. It is simply the Court of Public Opinion that will weigh this bill and to that end, those who are not in favor of this particular encroachment on the rights of American’s, should contact each and every one of those who voted in Committee to pass this legislation. This can be done by simply googleing their name, which will bring up both a congressional contact, as well as campaign websites and, in some instances, home phone numbers. (An aspect of Google that alone is an invasion of privacy.) Those that stood on principle and were not intimidated by one Rham Emanuel, should receive the thanks of their constituents, while those who chose to goose-step along party lines, should receive a note reminding them exactly who they work for – It goes without saying that many of those Democrats currently holding office may end up paying the piper in 2010.