One way to gauge the problem House leaders are having getting a health care overhaul bill to the floor is through the geographic and demographic diversity of the set of lawmakers who have made their recalcitrance public.
More than 60 separate lawmakers have signed onto at least one of three letters --
one from the Blue Dog Coalition, one from a group of mostly freshmen members upset about
tax hikes for wealthy constituents and one from
abortion foes -- expressing deep concerns with the legislation as it is currently written.
They come from at least 33 states (some of the Blue Dog signatures are indecipherable -- which might not be a bad idea when you're opposing the Speaker): Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississipppi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia.
They come from districts rich and poor, they are black, white and Hispanic, and they stretch across the country from Michael H. Michaud's 2nd District in the northern reaches of Maine to Jim Costa's 20th District in California's Central Valley, from the vast swaths of Minnesota that James L. Oberstar and Collin C. Peterson represent along the Canadian border to the Texas district Solomon P. Ortiz holds along the Mexican border, and from Allen Boyd's Tallahassee-based 2nd District in Florida to Walt Minnick's 1st District in Idaho.
They are freshmen like Jared Polis, Dina Titus and John Adler, and they are veterans like Oberstar (elected in 1974), Ortiz (1982) and Marcy Kaptur of Ohio (1982).
The anti-abortion group is working on a compromise with House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry A. Waxman, but no final deal has been announced.
All of this leads to one conclusion: If there's a silver bullet that will slay all of their concerns, the leadership hasn't found it yet. And, these are just the folks who have signed publicly released letters.
It looks increasingly like many House Democrats, particularly the moderates, will need the cover of a centrist Senate deal before they support a House bill.
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Comments
The Blue Dog Democrats are not "moderates" but conservative democrats. By using the term "moderate" in describing conservative Democrats, writers, reporters and analysts inadvertently or intentionally move the true moderate Democrats in congress to be seen as "left-wing", liberal or progressives and to move those in the progressive wing of the party to be seen as extremists. Come on folks, especially if the written or spoken words are your business, stop misusing them.
Posted by: DC Dave
| July 22, 2009 8:56 AM
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