Breathing room on cap-and-trade and health care reform till fall

America got some much needed breathing room today as two major domestic items were taken off the fast track for some well-warranted reconsideration. First the Washington Post reported that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee won’t consider cap-and-trade until September at the earliest. Then Blue Dog Democrats in the House demanded a delay on crafting a health care reform bill so concerns over potential tax increases and government-sold insurance could be worked out. Speaker Nancy Pelosi still wants the bill out by mid-August, but Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR) of the Blue Dogs says no vote should be taken before the fall, saying, “We need to slow down and do it right.”

Truer words could not have been spoken, Rep. Ross. Since the inauguration, Congress and the President have been on a nonstop dash to enact every piece of legislation they could before the present situation arose – declining poll numbers for Obama that have Democrats skittish of hitching their wagon with no cover of Republican support. For all the pre-election talk of bipartisanship, the GOP has been marginalized like no time before, and was basically ignored during the crafting of the stimulus and the cap-and-trade debacles. Those who might say that it’s the right of the majority party to do so probably weren’t thinking that way back in 2004 with the GOP in control of both Houses.

It’s good news for those concerned that these two items would be railroaded through Congress with no time to consider key provisions or even, heaven forbid, to read the bill. Final passage of both is still a very real possibility, though, so at this point it’s not a “Stick a fork in ‘em” moment. However as the electorate learns more of these two proposals with the delay, support may sour more than it already has, particularly if the health care reform bill will still include a government-run public option and utilizes dangerous tax increases to pay for the mammoth cost, and if the cap and trade bill … well … exists, period.

Democrats may come to the realization that they have the firepower with the electorate to attempt only battle, and at that point, cap and trade will be abandoned and it will be the universal health care battle that is undertaken. For now, though, America has a reprieve from knee-jerk legislation and now has a chance to more effectively debate the merits of health care reform and cap and trade.

Rahm Emanuel in trouble with libs for health care compromise

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, taking a position I think would actually be beneficial to the health care debate, has been slapped down by liberal activists and even the President himself. Emanuel suggested that the White House would consider a “trigger” clause on a public option health plan, which means that the plan might not be adopted at all if private insurers met certain guidelines. Within hours, the Progressive Caucus and MoveOn came out strongly against Rahm’s comments, and President Obama even took time out of his Moscow trip to publicly restate his support for the public option.

I agree with Rahm Emanuel on very little, but the “trigger” seems to me a valuable compromise option. It preserves the free market system for the time being, and delays and perhaps even forestalls government involvement. What’s unfortunate is that it’s clear from this episode that political pragmatism and centrist governance aren’t what’s driving the agenda, it’s liberal activism.

So committed are the activist groups to a publicly-funded and government-run health care plan that they will accept no substitute, no dilution of the prize, and certainly no compromise. With the President’s statement, it’s clear he’s on the side of the activists here as well, so a public option seems to be a non-negotiable part of any attempt at health care reform. Unfortunately, it’s also the most unsustainable portion and will prove to be the most damaging. And the rabid support of the public option demonstrates that it’s not the intention of the Obama administration to reform health insurance – it’s their intention to dominate and drive out private insurers with a government plan.

Taking the “trigger” path would have been at least a token step at attempting to appease the concerns of many that government is bound and determined to get into the health insurance business. With the rebuff of Rahm, it should be patently clear who’s driving the bus when it comes to setting the agenda for Congress and the White House. Here’s a hint: it’s not you or me.

Steny Hoyer thinks reading bills is funny

Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer gave an unintended glimpse into why health care reform, along with all the other massive spending bills, is being pushed through with little time for reflection or even for reading the entire piece of legislation (From CNSNews):

If every member pledged to not vote for it if they hadn’t read it in its entirety, I think we would have very few votes.

In fact, Rep. Hoyer laughed at the idea of a pledge for Congressmen to read any health-care bill in its entirety and require that the bill has been made public in its entirety for three days. Staff and aides, you see, read the bills in their entirety and discuss it with their bosses, so why make the people actually voting on the bill responsible for knowing the contents of legislation? Why show the American people what they’ll be forced to do?

Maybe the reason is something approaching legislative responsibility, Rep. Hoyer? Maybe because we elect legislators to actually know what the hell they’re voting on before they ram it down the American people’s throats? Maybe because we have a reasonable expectation that our Representatives, whether or not we agree with their political philosophy, aren’t ignorant of what will become the law of the land?

The fact that the number two Democrat in the House of Representatives thinks reading the entire bill is counter-productive frankly scares me. No, I don’t want to put my trust that an staff member will adequately explain a thousand-plus pages to an obviously uncaring politician. I didn’t vote for an aide. I voted for the Congressman to take informed responsibility for their decisions, and they should at least have the common courtesy to read the whole bill before voting along party lines anyway.

This should only confirm suspicions that no one read the massive stimulus package, no one read the massive omnibus spending bill, and no one read the massive cap-and-trade bill, especially after 300 pages were tacked on at 3 am before the vote. I don’t know how anyone can continue to have faith in the government when it seems abundantly clear that those in both parties don’t know or care what they’re doing to the country. You might want to think about that when you consider handing the reins of health care over to the people who at best should be called “irresponsible.”