Everyone and their brother is telling Democratic House members to pass the Senate version of the health care bill, and progressives like Jerry Nadler are whining about the excise tax. The labor unions and the White House hammered out a deal on the excise tax last week that can be included in a reconciliation bill. If the Labor Unions are okay with it, then why is Nadler still complaining?
Here’s Andy Stern of the SEIU:
Step one: The House should pass the Senate’s health insurance reform bill – with an agreement that it will be fixed, fixed right, and fixed right away through a parallel process.
Reform can work — the Senate bill can serve as the foundation for reform and include at minimum the improvements the Administration, House, and Senate have negotiated. We cannot squander the opportunity to make real progress. The House and Senate must move forward together. And, there is no reason they cannot move forward together to make those changes through any means possible — whether through reconciliation or other pieces of moving legislation.
Some in Washington may want to throw their hands up and walk away; others may call for walking back reform by passing something smaller. So let’s just say it: the Democrats own health reform. They own the votes they already took. And, they own what health reform will stand for. Most importantly, it will be a major achievement the American people need and deserve. There is no turning back. There is no running away. There is no reset button.
It’s like a bunch of progressives got addicted to reading progressive blogs and actually started to believe advocacy equals analysis. When the people you are supposed to represent and the health care experts and the political hands are all telling you to pass the Senate bill and fix it using reconciliation, you convince no one by pretending that you’re sticking up for principle. At best, you’re making a misguided attempt to save your own asses and your own majorities.