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October 30, 2009
DISCOVERING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PROCEDURE AND POLICY.... Yesterday afternoon, Sen. Evan Bayh's (D-Ind.) office released a statement about where the senator stands on the status of the health care reform bill. It read:
That is, to be sure, good news. There are several key procedural votes, and the measure Bayh's office is referring to here -- the motion to proceed -- is the first one. By voting with the majority on this, Bayh is allowing the reform bill to go to the floor, where it can be debated, subjected to amendments, etc. But there are some concerns to be considered. First, I'm reluctant to give Bayh too much credit here. Voting for the motion to proceed is the bare minimum expected of a Senate Democrat at this stage. Republicans opposing against this motion are effectively arguing, "We oppose reform so strongly, we don't even want the Senate to talk about it." Bayh announced he's not willing to go that far. I'm glad, but I don't want to reward the Hoosier with the soft bigotry of low expectations. Second, and more important, by supporting the motion to proceed despite misgivings about the overall legislation, Bayh is making an important distinction between procedural votes and policy votes -- which is exactly what he said a few days ago he would not do. Reform advocates have pleaded with center-right Democrats, asking them to reject a Republican filibuster when the legislation is ready for a vote. Senators like Bayh can obviously oppose the bill, but the key is the procedural vote -- support cloture and let the Senate vote up or down on the bill. On Wednesday, Bayh said he could make no such commitment because he doesn't see "much difference between process and policy." As the argument goes, if he disapproves of the policy, he disapproves of the procedural motion that would possibly let the policy pass. Except, Bayh's votes aren't matching up with Bayh's rhetoric. He's voted for cloture several times on bills he opposed. Indeed, just yesterday he voted with Dems to waive a point of order on a resolution included in a conference report, only to vote soon after with Republicans against the conference report. The same is true with motion to proceed on reform -- he has reservations about the policy, but he's backing the procedure to let the bill move forward. If Bayh and other center-right Dems can take this same approach when health care reform is ready for a vote, we'll all be just fine. —Steve Benen 8:00 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (14)Comments
Any hopes that Evan Bayh will do the right thing are misguided. Unfortunately, as a current resident of Indianapolis, I get to witness Bayh's mode of operation. In general, he does not say a damn thing until a bill is passed. Then, if polling shows it to be popular in Indiana, he runs massive advertising throughout the state proclaiming credit for it. Evan Bayh is a self serving asshat, has always been a self serving asshat, and will always be a self serving asshat. Posted by: SadOldVet on October 30, 2009 at 8:10 AM | PERMALINKAnd Lieberman is afraid to debate Rachel, although he did manage to go on Fox. Let us all ask our reps how we can stop our tax dollars going to Israel - Joe's favored cause. Posted by: JS on October 30, 2009 at 8:26 AM | PERMALINKPicture Bayh with a 24-karat gold fish hook stuck up his ass and sliding right thru his guts and out his mouth... courtesy of the private medical insurance industry. He's a goddam traitor to the people of Indiana. Posted by: neill on October 30, 2009 at 8:37 AM | PERMALINKI don't know why Joe the faux (Democrat) would be afraid to debate Rachel Maddow, she couldn't debate her way out of a paper bag if a hole was already ripped in it. She's not very good at policy debates.
As an Indiana resident, I loathe Evan Bayh and will stay at home before I vote for him. Ditto Lugar, who thinks it's just fine that he has Medicare but everyone else can eat cake, i.e., "we can't afford" to give anyone a government-run competitor to big insurance that actually saves the country money. Neill, KJ and SadOldVet said it for me. Tom M, I disagree. Vehemently. But of course you have a right to your opinion. Posted by: msmolly on October 30, 2009 at 9:11 AM | PERMALINKIs it true that Bayh's wife sits on the board of directors at Wellpoint and made $2 million over the last several years? Also, that Bayh has $500K of insurance stock? Posted by: e on October 30, 2009 at 9:20 AM | PERMALINKI think there is a bit of over-reaction on these procedural clotores. Of course, Lieberman, Conrad and others are only supporting the first vote for now. They want to destroy as much of the health care reform as they can through the ammendment process. That doesn't mean that they will vote against cloture on a final bill, but if they promised to vote for cloture at the end, it would remove any power then have to weaken the bill in the meantime. There is a special place in hell for Bayh, Nelson, Lieberman, et. al., but the issue of cloture at this point is just a yawner. Posted by: Danp on October 30, 2009 at 9:34 AM | PERMALINKe, if you believe all the public disclosures and the MSM reporting what you said is absolutely true. Mrs. Bayh was a midlevel attorney who suddenly became really popular with giant companies when her husband was elected Governor. The Bayhs are sort of remind me of the former governor of Illinois and his wife, but they are very polished and practiced. You never ever see the hand coming out but watch your silverware. Posted by: Ron Byers on October 30, 2009 at 9:35 AM | PERMALINKIs it true that Bayh's wife sits on the board of directors at Wellpoint and made $2 million over the last several years? Also, that Bayh has $500K of insurance stock? Posted by: e on October 30, 2009 at 9:20 AM |Posted by: msmolly on October 30, 2009 at 10:13 AM | PERMALINK Progressives need to start running ads in IN exposing the Bayh and Lieberman familys' extensive ties to the healthcare industry. If anyone knows of an organization planning to do this, please post it because I would like to give them some $$. Posted by: bdop4 on October 30, 2009 at 10:15 AM | PERMALINKSounds like someone is finally whipping that caucus. About time. Posted by: Rian Mueller on October 30, 2009 at 1:42 PM | PERMALINKBayh sounds pretty dim and/or Republican when he has to answer questions that are new to him. I'm sure he went back to his Democratic staff and they gave him the proper vanilla answer which he then promptly regurgitated. He's not so much a man as a herring gull who feeds the press back the elite conventional wisdom advanced by the press, chewed up and made nice by a handsome gull Senator. It's not like the establishment can quote itself so Bayh is the next best thing. Posted by: joejoejoe on October 30, 2009 at 3:10 PM | PERMALINKPost a comment
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