Coalition of the Governing
Cokie Roberts and Steven V. Roberts Coalition of the Governing Aug 02, 2017 - 1 of 1
Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, wrote to her Republican counterparts extending “the hand of friendship” and offering “to work in a bipartisan fashion” to fix the flaws in Obamacare.
Let’s hope she really means it. Let’s hope Democrats won’t use the collapse of the Republican health care effort simply to score political points against an irresponsibly inept president and continue his record of legislative futility.
The temptation is great. Donald Trump is clearly unqualified to be president. His favorable ratings are dreadful. His new chief of staff, John F. Kelly, probably won’t change a 71-year-old man who refuses to adapt his impulsive and undisciplined style to the demands of governing.
In next year’s congressional elections, too, Democrats will be eager to exploit Trump’s dismal performance. And the poorer his record of accomplishment, the better their chances of defeating him in 2020 -- assuming he lasts that long and runs again.
But Democrats must face an inconvenient truth. They own Obamacare. They are responsible for it, with all its many benefits and failings. They made a huge mistake by passing it without a single Republican vote. Then they compounded that error by underestimating problems and overpromising results.
And now they owe it to the millions of people who rely on their program to improve it, to stabilize the marketplace, to focus on actual policy for a change and not just politics.
It won’t be easy. Hardline leftists in their own party will call any Democrat who works with the GOP a soft-headed traitor. And pragmatic Republicans will be pressed by ideological purists in their own ranks to reject Pelosi’s “hand of friendship.”
But Democrats must make a sincere effort here. And if they help produce a reform package that can pass the Congress and acquire Trump’s signature in some splashy Rose Garden ceremony, so be it.
Of course, Democrats relied on their own votes to pass Obamacare in the first place because Republicans refused to cooperate in crafting the bill. But now a few GOPers seem ready to defy Trump and the party’s hard-core crazies and enter negotiations.
Three Republican senators provided the decisive votes that finally sank the Obamacare repeal effort; a half-dozen Republican governors also broke ranks and opposed the measure. Sen. Lamar Alexander, who heads the committee that handles health legislation, announced hearings for next month and endorsed legislation that stabilizes Obamacare at least through next year.
“Any solution that Congress passes for a 2018 stabilization package would need to be small, bipartisan and balanced,” he said.
Centrist lawmakers from both parties, calling themselves the Problem Solvers Caucus, have advanced a sensible set of reform proposals. Rep. Tom Reed, a New York Republican who helps lead the caucus, said: “Maybe we look at a situation where it’s 51 senators, regardless of what party they’re from, and we put together a coalition of the governing who want to solve problems. And to me, that could be a winning combination, rather than just going shirts and skins.”
One key fix that pragmatists of all stripes can agree on: Prop up shaky insurance markets by injecting more money into the system, as permanent subsidies for low-income policy buyers and better guarantees for insurance companies against excessive risk.
Trump denounces such subsidies as “bailouts” for insurance companies and threatens to “implode” the marketplace by holding them back. But that would be a cruel and cynical strategy that Republicans of goodwill must oppose.
“It really would be detrimental to some of the most vulnerable citizens if those payments are cut off,” Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a leading Republican dissident, said on CNN.
Democrats should emulate Collins and Alexander. They should take compromise seriously and consider a range of Republican proposals: from giving states more flexibility in implementing Obamacare to increasing the number of workers a company must employ before it’s required to provide insurance benefits.
Attention has focused on Sen. John McCain’s dramatic vote when he joined Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski in killing the Republican health care proposal. But that moment should not overshadow the speech he made several nights before on the Senate floor, pleading for a revival of bipartisanship.
McCain, almost 81 and suffering from brain cancer, urged his colleagues to produce a health care bill “that will be imperfect, full of compromises, and not very pleasing to implacable partisans on either side, but that might provide workable solutions to problems Americans are struggling with today.”
He was speaking to Democrats as well as Republicans. They should listen to his words. And act on them.
http://www.uexpress.com/cokie-and-steven-roberts/2017/8/2/coalition-of-the-governing
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You folks are probably surprised to see and I see a lot of folks from the old NV days - so welcome and howdy to all.
I ran across this article and since it was written in the spirit of bipartisan governing I did not figure anyone would share it here so I decided to do it myself.
I hope you read the article, think about the points made and ponder them for a bit, before the hyper partisan tirades are launched, but to each his own.
I am not usually in agreement with much of what Cokie Roberts writes, but her article in today's Plain Dealer was surprisingly non-partisan and dare I say it 'on point" - people of all political leanings (or those with no leanings at all) should be interested in what she says about how the Congress should proceed with healthcare.
She notes (rightfully) that Republicans have been woefully inept in getting anything done and cannot even hold their own members in support of a "pl...an" (I use the term loosely). But she also points out that the Democrats should be careful how much they gloat and continue to be satisfied to do nothing so long as they block what Trump wants to do or what McConnell wants to do or what Ryan wants to do.
She reminds the Democrats --
But Democrats must face an inconvenient truth. They own Obamacare. They are responsible for it, with all its many benefits and failings. They made a huge mistake by passing it without a single Republican vote. Then they compounded that error by underestimating problems and overpromising results.
And now they owe it to the millions of people who rely on their program to improve it, to stabilize the marketplace, to focus on actual policy for a change and not just politics.
It won’t be easy. Hardline leftists in their own party will call any Democrat who works with the GOP a soft-headed traitor. And pragmatic Republicans will be pressed by ideological purists in their own ranks to reject Pelosi’s “hand of friendship.”
There will be an elephant in the room until Trump is gone from sight. He cannot be normalized and Democrats should object to and obstruct every attempt to normalize him.
I hope they do compromise on health care and get something done. There will be an inevitable give and take until we get to the point when universal health care is demanded by the people.
Trump needs to leave office. He is easily the most embarrassing president in the past century +, and is not remotely qualified to lead this nation. I don't care how many incompetents voted for him.
Thanks for proving that nothing has changed
Democrats should object to and obstruct every attempt
Damn straight. We are not going to normalize trump. You should have been more attentive during the nominating process and put someone more deserving into the slot.
Your party foisted a diseased fraud onto the nation and now we are all suffering the consequences. Why prolong the inevitable?
The problem with this type of thinking is that it is a disservice to Americans. The Democrats pushed through Obamacare, it's past time to fix it, one way or another. Doing nothing besides trying to block everything will continue to outrage the public. And I doubt that Republicans will lose because of Trump. He is not accepted by the vast amount of Republican Lawmakers out there-he's an outsider
R.I.O. - good to see you over here!
Spikegary
Appreciate the perspective and nice to exchange ideas on NT again - we will see how long it lasts
I am an independent and think Trump is a terrible president but you knew that.
The point of the article is not that Trump needs to win but that not getting anything done and soon on healthcare will be bad for the Democrats as well as the Republicans.
I agree that they should all compromise on health care, for the time being.
John
So you agree that the Democrats should support some of the changes the Republicans want and the Republicans should support some of the changes the Democrats want?
Both sides dislike the final bill, but vote for it because they do not let perfect get in the way of better! What a novel approach!
I am sure this will happen at some point in the next year.
Good to hear
So do you figure that the Democrats will go along with returning more control to the states and elimination of the individual or maybe the business mandate if the Republicans agree to continue funding Medicaid expansion?
(((((((((((((RIO)))))))))))))))))) Wonderful to see you!
I have a tendency to agree with the article, too. How did we get ourselves into this fine mess?
Dowser you and I are part of a small group of rational people left in this country that seems to get smaller every day.
Glad to hear from you
Dowser you and I are part of a small group of rational people left in this country
Did you sprain your arm patting yourself on the back lol?
Did you choke on your snark pill this morning, John? Come on, be nice and play well with others...
John
No and I haven't insulted anyone or made a hyper partisan comment all day, but you on the other hand .....
I feel rational... I mean, I'm not hiding in the closet or anything, yet... I miss you!
The problem I see here is that the Democrats have outside motivations for wanting to aid in "fixing" the PPACA. They have stated repeatedly that their goal has been to maintain it, until recently. What has changed? Are their internal polls stating that their position wasn't going to help them win back the House and Senate in 2018? Are they afraid of the evidence out there about Russian collusion actually pointing at them instead of Trump, because every one of their accusations about Trump colluding with the Russians has been constantly turned back on Democrats to show they did the colluding?
Too much what if speculation about unrelated issues - the question at hand is how we health care improvements in this country.
Focusing on the periphery of an issue (and beyond) makes it impossible to see the issue clearly.
There is only ONE way to fix the Healthcare system, particularly by going on the path of the PPACA which focused on Health INSURANCE rather than Health Care. That way is to make EVERY Health Insurance plan available EVERYWHERE in the United States. If HealthCorp has a plan in NYC they need to offer it in Guam, Puerto Rico, in every other US Territory and in every state and in all locations in the areas the plan is offered. To drive down costs, the basic idea in a Free Market system is to offer more choices.
Are they afraid of the evidence out there about Russian collusion actually pointing at them instead of Trump, because every one of their accusations about Trump colluding with the Russians has been constantly turned back on Democrats to show they did the colluding?
We can see where you get your information.
If anything they will make it worse not better. Pelosi and Reid are the same people that created this disaster they have no idea how to make it better. Their idea of better is to steal more from the makers and give more to the takers.
Dean
Remember both sides will get some of what they want and both sides will give the other side some of what they want - compromise how things get done in a democracy.