The Hill has an article about how the Blue Dogs are really upset about having to vote on a health care bill so soon after having to vote for the American Clean Energy and Security Act. For example, we get to read complaints like this:
Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), who is leading the Blue Dogs’ charge on healthcare, says that Democrats mixed up their priorities by putting climate change first. He said even many less conservative Democrats have thanked him for slowing the bill down.
“Passing climate change first has complicated getting healthcare done this year,” Ross said. “There’s not enough distance between them. The American people are ready for us to slow down.”
Here’s how the narrative unfolds:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is paying a price on healthcare reform for the arm-twisting she did on the climate change bill last month. Democratic House members were rankled by how the climate bill passed — and stunned by the criticism they got at home. Those memories are fueling a revolt among conservative Blue Dogs and a drive among freshman lawmakers to drop plans for a surtax on the wealthy in healthcare reform.
I took a look at the vote on the American Clean Energy and Security Act and I discovered something interesting. Frank Kratovil Jr. of Maryland and newly elected Scott Murphy of New York (who replaced Gillibrand) are the only freshmen Blue Dogs who voted for it. The other six new members of the Blue Dog Caucus (Bright, Childers, Dahlkemper, Griffith, Minnick, and Nye) voted against it. So, unless Reps. Kratovil and Murphy can be considered as constituting ‘a drive,’ there is no drive among freshmen lawmakers in response to the beating they got back home after voting for Cap & Trade. This reporting is horseshit.
Not only that, but only 21 members of the fifty-three member caucus voted for the bill. The Democrats have 267 members, and they need 218 to pass a bill into law. While the Blue Dogs can do some damage on certain committees, they can’t stop a bill by themselves unless they can muster fifty votes. If there is a bloc of Blue Dogs intent on killing off the surtax in the House’s health care bill on the top 1.2% of earners in this country, it is either too small to matter or it is more than fifty percent constructed of members who voted against the climate bill.
Here’s the reality. There are a lot of Democrats representing marginal districts. This is especially true of members who were elected in the last two cycles. And the Blue Dogs are almost definitionally from conservative districts. So, what’s happening is that a lot of Democrats are nervous that pushing through Obama’s agenda on health care and climate is going to cost them their seats. I understand the concern.
But, here’s a tip. Many of you only got elected because of Obama. For you, the voters in your districts took a chance on a Democrat (you) after years of sending a Republican to Washington. Don’t make them look stupid by failing to enact the president’s top priority agenda. The whole premise of the Democratic agenda is that it will make most people happy. Do people like Social Security? Do they like Medicare? Don’t worry, they’ll like the new heath care system, too. They’ll probably defend it with their lives and their votes.
And that is also what I would tell those of you that were elected in spite of Obama. People may be listening to talk radio right now, but when they see the improvement in their lives, they’ll come around to supporting Obama’s agenda. Have some patience and put your trust in the president’s ideas.
But, please, stop bitching about the pace of the legislative agenda or the fact that the leadership has been successful in pushing it. You are presumably a Democrat for a reason. This is your chance to get big things done. Now…do it.
The surtax stays. Health care passes. You get the credit. So, rather than banding together to weaken reform, get each other’s backs, and band together to explain why this legislation will benefit your constituents. There is strength and safety in numbers.