Howard Dean:"Kill the Senate Bill"

[peace frog]

Howard Dean: “Kill The Senate Bill”

In a blow to the bill grinding through the Senate, Howard Dean bluntly called for the bill to be killed in a pre-recorded interview set to air later this afternoon, denouncing it as “the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate,” the reporter who conducted the interview tells me.

Dean said the removal of the Medicare buy-in made the bill not worth supporting, and urged Dem leaders to start over with the process of reconciliation in the interview, which is set to air at 5:50 PM today on Vermont Public Radio, reporter Bob Kinzel confirms to me.

The gauntlet from Dean — whose voice on health care is well respsected among liberals — will energize those on the left who are mobilizing against the bill, and make it tougher for liberals to swallow the emerging compromise. In an excerpt Kinzel gave me, Dean says:

“This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate. Honestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House, start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill.”

Kinzel added that Dean essentially said that if Democratic leaders cave into Joe Lieberman right now they’ll be left with a bill that’s not worth supporting.


http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/howard-dean-kill-the-senate-bill/

[polichick]

1. Some of us have been waiting to hear from Dean - very interesting. k&r

[tekisui]

2. Please listen to Dr. Dean.

[Autumn Colors]

3. Agree. K&R (nt)

[MannyGoldstein]

4. K&R For The Democratic Wing Of Our Party

Let's send the DLC Republicans scurrying to the hinterlands.

[Faryn Balyncd]

5. Howard Dean is the voice of integrity & reason.

[smoogatz]

6. I knew it.

Once Lieberman yanked the buy-in football away (and who could see that one coming, right?), it was obvious there was nothing in the bill that made it worth supporting, unless you just wanted to make things worse for average Americans and/or further enrich the insurance companies. The current senate bill (or the bits and pieces that will likely make up the senate bill) is, as I said several days ago, a complete piece of shit.

[maryinthemorn]

7. Glad to see he has changed his tune since Dec 9....

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/12/09/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5948676.shtml

December 9, 2009 7:42 AM
Dean: Senate Health Care Compromise a "Positive Step"
.

Watch CBS News Videos Online
The new health care compromise hammered out among Senate Democrats isn't perfect but it represents a "positive step forward," former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said on CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday.

Liberals appear ready to drop their demands for a public option in order to assuage moderate Democrats and get the 60 votes needed to avoid a Republican filibuster. The revamped legislation would reportedly set up a private insurance plan overseen by the same government agency that controls lawmakers' insurance. It would also expand Medicare, lowering the qualifying age from 65 to 55.

Dean, who previously chaired the Democratic National Committee, said Medicare expansion "makes a lot of sense because you don't have to reinvent another bureaucracy to do it."

.............

Dean said the compromise solution still represents "real reform."

"Whatever we call it is irrelevant. Is it going to work? Yes, it is."

[mike_c]

8. kill it thoroughly....

It's worse than the sorry situation it proposes to "reform."

[Faryn Balyncd]

9. This post belongs on the front page.

[Vidar]

10. K&R.