Union Big: Labor Won’t Support House Passing Senate Bill
House to pass Senate health bill as is? Forget it, a top labor leader says.
AFL-CIO legislative director Bill Samuel tells me in an interview that labor won’t support any efforts by the House to pass the Senate health bill in its current form — creating major complications for one of the key solutions Dems are contemplating in the wake of their huge loss last night.
“We don’t want the House to pass the Senate bill,” Samuel said a few moments ago by phone. “We would not be in favor of passing the Senate bill without fixing the problems that we’ve identified.”
Labor’s opposition to this solution is not wholly surprising, because labor is adamantly opposed to a number of provisions in the Senate bill, such as the “Cadillac” tax and state-by-state, rather than national, exchanges. But Samuel’s declaration is noteworthy, because it renders the odds that House leaders will pursue this route remote indeed — forcing them to search for other solutions.
Samuel said that right now, labor viewed only one route forward as acceptable: Creating a bill in the Senate that would address labor’s concerns and passing it through reconciliation, while simultaneously passing the measure through the House.
House leaders are feverishly studying various legislative mechanisms to move forward. And Samuel cautioned that if another route emerged that addressed labor’s concerns, unions could support it.
But Nancy Pelosi and other Dem leaders say that merely passing the Senate bill through the House would be a heavy lift. And labor’s opposition to this course of action adds yet another big obstacle, making it that much more unlikely to happen.
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I have comprehensive employer provided health insurance. I also have leukemia. I do not want my benefits taxed because I will not be able to afford watered down health care coverage. Obama should have supported the House version with it’s tax on millionaires as a source of revenue instead of promoting a tax on employer provided health insurance which will, in the long run, destroy what I have.
You whiny liberals just don’t get it!
A three page piece of legislation dealing with interstate competition, malpractice limits, and an end to pre-existing conditions would greatly reduce the cost of health insurance.
Why do you kooks need a 2500 page document? It’s not about health care reform … the liberals want POWER! As all liberals demonstrate … it’s NEVER about the people (war on poverty ring a bell) it’s about abusing the working and wealthy to ingratiate the uneducated and poor … the mechanism to keep the democrat lever pulled!
I guess you can no longer blame the “rednecks” for electing conservatives. Your own base is sick of your $hit and went for REAL change!
See ya in November! I hear you can book flights to Canada almost a year in advance! While you’re at it … get a passport, too!
Obama is 0-4 and has sold out everyone that voted for him into office. He is an empty shell that could sell a load of *+#t. See you in Nov. and 2012.
Use of reconciliation for this purpose would be unconscienable. This is NOT what the reconciliation process was designed for. If they try this tactic, not only will they probably not even get the 51 votes, they will do so at their own political peril. JUDGMENT DAY 11-2-2010
I have a wife purchased a brand new one for my house. Except I’m having some trouble and I could use some help.