Evan Bayh: Procedural And Straight Up Or Down Health Care Votes Are “One And The Same”
Okay, looks like Senator Evan Bayh has no qualms about giving a boost to the GOP’s efforts to kill the public plan with the opt-out in the Senate.
Bayh, who is undecided on the opt-out, is now asserting that he sees no difference between a vote to bring that measure to the floor (which requires 60) and a straight up or down vote on it — a claim that’s in perfect harmony with the GOP’s songsheet:
Democratic leaders should be able to tell where Bayh is headed based on his vote on whether to move to a debate. The Indiana Democrat said Tuesday that he doesn’t see “much difference between process and policy at this particular juncture,” and that he’ll be “looking at those two things as one and the same.”
This one will really help maintain unity in the Dem caucus. It’s one thing, after all, to threaten to block efforts by the majority party — your own party — to stage a straight up-or-down majority vote on the bill’s substance. It’s quite another to claim that the initial procedural vote, which requires 60, is not materially different from a straight up-or-down majority vote on the bill’s substance.
Indeed, Bayh’s position is hard to distinguish from that esposed by GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who said yesterday that “most Americans” will see a vote for cloture “as a vote on the substance of the bill.” Heck, GOP leaders see Bayh’s quote as so helpful that they just blasted it out to reporters.
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“It’s quite another to claim that the initial procedural vote, which requires 60, is not materially different from a straight up-or-down majority vote on the bill’s substance.”
I believe the point is that once you move to debate it takes 60 votes to remove anything from the bill…
This should prompt people to flood his office with calls and overwhelm his staff. This dud with the personality of lint should be warned by all of us that a challenger is just a keystroke away!
By the way, all this bluster aside, let’s just wait for the vote to see if any of these spinless losers have the guts to follow through. Their political stock would plunge even further. I’d suggest a poll be conducted on everyone who is making this threat. Let’s see them stand firm in the face of a serious decline in their own numbers and how it’s tied to healthcare.
Hey Liam, what do you think about his awesome vote counting skills now, genius? You probably shouldn’t have insulted all those people who questioned Reid. Here’s some advice: make sure that crow is well-seasoned.
Greg, we all know where tools & shills like bayh, liebermann, baucus, conrad, landrieu et. al stand. You and others have been repeating their ’statements’ ad nauseum.
How about some posts on what the other dem senators are saying on PO ? There are frigging 60 (less the above shills) of them.
Bayh is in the tank for his wife’s Wellpoint views. He’s my senator and he’s an asshat.
Yeah, I’m sure that was his EXACT position when Republicans were in charge, screaming “up or down vote” on every uber-conservative issue that drove this country into a canyon.
Is there seriously no reporter with the guts to stand up and ask these d*****bags about their blatent hypocracy?
Okay. Can we just get beyond the B.S.?
This is nothing more than POSITIONING for favors.
I would be utterly and thoroughly shocked if any of these shills are willing to end their political careers by joining the GOP on a filibuster of health care reform.
They just want something for their corporate masters.
It’s all threat and bluster for favors.
Hey bob65, why don’t you contribute to the discussion at hand instead of slamming other commenters? Nothing substantive to add? Then STFU.
Any Dem who joins the Republican filibuster should be purged from the party. If leadership won’t do it Progressive voters will. Even in conservative states like Indiana, Arkansas, Nebraska and Louisiana the Dem candidate can not win without Progressive voters.
Let them show their colors and then pass health care reform through reconciliation. They are throwing away their careers for nothing.
So has Bayh ever split his votes (i.e. voted for cloture and against passage)? If he has, he needs too explain it in the context of his current position.
I don’t like the idea of “purging”– that sounds like the intolerant Republicans– but I do wonder why there is no expectation of party unity just for cloture. No one is asking them to vote to pass the darn thing, just let it be voted on! Unfortunately, incumbency is hard to overcome so I suspect some of these senators aren’t worrying too much about reelections. The voters will forget by then or won’t be so angry by then or will be so angry they don’t vote (which only helps those senators).
I am so frustrated with this. I honestly don’t know how sentient beings can argue against health care for everyone as a basic right, particularly when their big (supposed) reason is the cost. Health care for everyone lowers the costs. Is it just that even though everyone is equal they want to make sure they are just a little more equal than everyone else?
Don’t be frustrated MM. This is nothing. Bayh isn’t going to end his career on this, just watch.
I’m with Jane Hamsher who dared Blanche Lincoln to vote to filibuster with Republicans. I’d make that challenge to anyone calling themself a Democrat. Go ahead. Considering that not one of them has EVER had the guts to do it. I DOUBLE DARE ANY OF THEM! Elections have consequences and when they joined the Democratic party, they signed on for comprehensive healthcare someday and that time is now! You’re not going to enjoy the benefits of the majority party without casting some votes for that majority. Otherwise, you might as well join the party of losers!
roxsteady, on a related note, the Democratic platform approved by the party 1 year ago also calls for a public option:
“Our vision of a strengthened and improved health care system for all Americans stands in stark contrast to the Republican Party’s and includes:
Covering All Americans and Providing Real Choices of Affordable Health Insurance Options. Families and individuals should have the option of keeping the coverage they have or choosing from a wide array of health insurance plans, including many private health insurance options and a public plan.”
http://is.gd/4G4Za
I won’t believe that democrats will support a repiglican filibuster attempt (remember without holy joe and other conservadems there is no possibility of a filibuster). When the votes come, if Bayh votes with the repiglicans, he had better be out of the caucus. If he won’t vote with his own party on procedural matters, he might as well vote for McConnell for majority leader and lose any influence on policy debates and all committee assignments in the majority. I mean, what’s the point of having Dems who don’t support their leaders?
I have to agree, no Democrat who wants to be re-elected will take down HCR. There’s no way they would keep their jobs, almost any primary challanger could take them out at that point.
However, Lieberman already knows he’s got no future in electoral politics. He doesn’t care about staying in office, only about getting as much attention to feed his ego as possible.
I say, feed it. Feed it by allowing him the opportunity to stand on the Senate floor and talk non-stop about why the public option is bad. Have him stand there and talk about how much money it’s going to add to the deficit and how it’s a “new entitlement” and all the other bogus stuff. Have him do that, all after the CBO points out in cold black and white that none of it is true.
He wants attention – he’ll get it. And after he babbles on, looking like the nation’s biggest fool, he’ll slink back to his chair like the coward that he is.
rox, this is for you, an email from Jane:
Last night on the Rachel Maddow Show I dared Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas to filibuster a public option.
Why? Because joining with Republicans to break her own party’s filibuster-proof majority is unprecedented, and recent polling indicates 80% of Arkansas Democrats support a public option.
We need $30,000 to put organizers on the ground in Arkansas to start knocking on doors to identify voters who would support a primary challenge to Lincoln.
Your generous contribution can go a long way to letting Blanche Lincoln get the message: filibuster the public option and face serious consequences. Believe me, she’ll get the message.
Donate now to help fund our organizers in Arkansas. Click here:
http://action.firedoglake.com/dare
If Sen. Bayh wants to throw his career as a senator out the window, let the pompous hypocrite do it, without the liberal/progressive voter he doesn’t stand a chance of reelection. Eat dit and shie Mr Bayh.
The Majority Leader counted the votes; and guess what, the vast majority of his caucus wanted the Public Option, so was he supposed to not go with the vast majority, or go with the tiny minority who said they did not want it.
As Majority Leader, he went with his vast majority.
That is what being Majority Leader is all about.
Bayh can help kill health care reform. That is all he can do, and we will force him to cast his vote. We are not going to let him kill it just by making a threat.
Do what you had to do back before we just gave up when someone filibustered. Make them talk it out. Let them spew wind until they have to stop from exhaustion. If nothing else is moving, pressure WILL mount on them.
Actually Evan Bayh split a vote on H.R. 3183 just two weeks ago. He voted for cloture and then against the bill. I wonder how he reconciles that with his new position?
John, they don’t do that anymore. It is a FINO… filibuster in name only.
So, we just keep attaching the bill to every thing that comes up for a vote. Over and Over.
Make them vote to kill it, over and over. Make them choke on their own obstructionist votes. Attach it to all funding bills, especially for those that affect their home states. Make them feel the pain.
Attach a 50 State Robust Public Option to every thing that is up for a vote. We can change our tactics to harass the hell out of the enemy.
What? I thought Bayh was super happy he scored medical device makers a $20 billion windfall and would now vote for cloture. Here’s the backstory: Originally Baucus’ bill levied a 5% tax on this industry which is awash in record profits. But then a former University of Washington professor named David Auth asked for help. “Our government rewards dummies and punishes geniuses,” said Dr. Auth. In a pattern repeated over and over in the industry, Dr. Auth made a $500 million fortune through the invention a heart catheter that replaced an earlier device that was losing patent protection. The device has never been shown to be superior to the one it replaced, and is now itself being replaced as it loses patent protection. But of course we can’t be punishing geniuses, so Bayh made sure the tax was cut in half.
This is going to be the Republican talking point until the vote for cloture comes up. Yesterday morning, Scarborough, who shills the Republican talking points on MSNBC instead of Fox, said the exact same words that McConnell said that afternoon, “A vote for cloture is a vote for HCR”
“What? I thought Bayh was super happy he scored medical device makers a $20 billion windfall and would now vote for cloture.”
“But Bayh said Tuesday that he’s not as concerned with the public option, saying he’s “more focused on is this fiscally responsible and what does this mean in terms of the premiums average families pay for those who currently have insurance.” Bayh said that Reid’s decision to reduce new fees on medical device makers has put his vote in play.
“Without that, they definitely would not have my support,” Bayh said.”
via hotair
Evan Bayh will vote however the CEO of Wellpoint tells him to vote. They paid his wife over 2 million to sit on the board for the last 4 years. When Evan gets bought he stays bought
I voted for President Obama. I support and desire health care reform. I agree with Senator Bayhs’ thoughtful and intelligent approach to moving health care reform legislation forward.
Others may feel a need to attack the Senator’s wife or make veiled anti jewish remarks about Senator Lieberman or to just simply vilify the Senator but where does this get us? And the proposition that Senator Bayh will suffer greatly at the polls with his cautious approach? “Welcome to the state house Governor Christie, Governor McConnel”.
A vote to advance the bill but vote against it is one in the same. Evan Bayh’s career will be over in the state of Indiana if he votes for this horrible monstrosity of a bill. This is a horrible bill that accomplishes one thing the take over of 1/5 of the country’s gross national product. Taxes on kid’s braces, taxes on prosthesis including artificial knees and hips. This thing is a money grab and nothing else.
Evan Bayh is finished in Indiana as well as Congressman Baron Hill. Indiana has never been the bastion of liberal poitics. Evan always bucked the trend in the Hoosier State for his conservative demeanor and attitudes, but they are all gone. He tried to run for President but dropped out in 2007, chaired Hillary’s state campaign, and now voted for the health care bill. Evan forgot his roots and he will be finished next fall. He brought the Democratic party back from the dead in the late 1980’s but with this vote he has killed it.
Danny L. McDaniel
Lafayette, Indiana