Roland Burris is the next hold out on the Senate healthcare bill. He is pushing back against the removal of the Medicare buy in and the public option that was done to appease Joe Lieberman.
From The New York Times:
Senator Roland W. Burris, Democrat of Illinois, has vowed that he will not vote for a health care bill that does not include a government-run insurance plan, or public option.
And on Monday, after Democrats indicated that they were prepared to meet the demands of Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, and strip the last vestige of a public option from their bill, Mr. Burris went to the Senate floor to warn that he had not committed to vote for the legislation.
Mr. Burris, however, did calibrate his language: “I am committed to voting for a bill that achieves the goals of a public option: competition, cost savings and accountability,” he said. “I will not be able to vote for lesser legislation that ignores those fundamentals.”
He added: “My colleagues may have forged a compromise bill that can achieve the 60 votes that will be needed for it to pass. But until this bill addresses cost, competition and accountability in a meaningful way, it will not win mine.”
With a dramatic flourish, Mr. Burris said: “As Mohandas Gandhi once famously said, ‘All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender.’”
Other liberals are also expected to resist appeasing Mr. Lieberman. But they may have little choice if Democrats hope to adopt a health care bill and avoid a failure to achieve President Obama’s top domestic priority.
Call me a cynic, but I don’t believe that Burris is taking a principled progressive stance. Rather I believe he is looking to get his palm greased.
Obama and Reid are either cracking skulls or greasing palms to get this bill passed. Since Burris is NOT getting reelected, hardball tactics are ineffective, thus greasing his palm is the only option. Look for Burris to “see the light” in a few days and accept this bill. A few days later expect to see that he is getting an appointment somewhere or so other quid pro quo.
All of these people who say they cannot vote for this bill because of x, y or z are really full of s—t. What they are concerned about is getting something from a desperate administration. They could not care less if the bill passes or not. It is only a matter of time before, everyone whacked into line or paid off and the bill will pass.
Via: Memeorandum
Via: The New York Times
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