December 22, 2009 10:57 PM
Healthcare
As this is being written the Senate is finishing its deliberations on healthcare "reform" legislation. The goal, to pass the bill by Christmas. Majority Leader Harry Reid has cobbled together the 60 votes necessary to survive several filibusters, the first of which was concluded at 1:00 a.m. on December 21st, and the second at 8:15 a.m. on December 22nd. There is one cloture vote to go, with the vote on final passage scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Christmas Eve.Next stop is the House/Senate conference, with the ostensible goal of final passage of legislation prior to the State of the Union Address early next year.
Rule XXII
On January 14, 1975, Senators Fritz Mondale (D-MN) and Jim Pearson (R-KS) launched an effort to change Rule 22 of the U.S. Senate. The Rule at the time required the vote of 66 Senators to end debate on a matter.They were joined in their efforts by a number of Senators, including two who remain prominent in American politics, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Vice President Joe Biden, then a Senator from Delaware.
Their proposal was that debate could be ended by the vote of 3/5ths of the Senators present and voting.
The debate went on for just over 7 weeks. It ended on March 7, 1975, with a compromise. The Rule was changed so that debate could be ended with the vote of 3/5ths of the total number of Senators.
Would the Senate be headed for passage of this landmark healthcare legislation if 66 Senators were required to end debate? Not likely.
[Mondale was staffed by Bob Barnett.]
The following is a summary of the state of public opinion about various aspects of the legislation. The survey results that are included were all published in the last two months unless otherwise noted. [A list of all the surveys is found at the end of this section.]
* 55% say they have a good basic understanding of the changes proposed to the healthcare system
- 56% support the change
- 43% oppose the change
- 38% support change
- 57% oppose change
* The public trusts Obama to do a better job of handling healthcare than the Republicans by 46% to 39%. However, that is down from June, when 55% trusted Obama, while 33% trusted the Republicans.
* By 50% to 47% Americans think it is not the government's responsibility to make sure that everyone has health coverage. However, a year ago 54% thought it was the government's responsibility.
* 47% to 32% think that the "Obama healthcare plan" is a bad idea. In April, by a 7 point margin, Americans thought it was a good idea. However, since July a plurality has considered it to be a bad idea.
* 60% don't think a health care overhaul plan should be adopted if only Democrats support it.
* In April, 24% believed that the quality of healthcare would get worse based on what they heard about the Obama plan. In late October that number rose to 40%.
* 57% think that people should have the option of being covered by a government health insurance plan: the so-called “public option.”
* If the new healthcare bill becomes law, 41% think the healthcare system will be better and 40% think it will be worse.
* 48% would advise their Member of Congress to vote against the healthcare bill, while 46% would advise their Member to vote for it.
[WP/ABC 11/09]
[WP/ABC 4/09;12/09]
[WP/ABC 12/09;6/09]
[NBC/WSJ 12/09;4/09]
[Quinnipiac 11/09]
[NYT 4/09;NBC/WSJ 10/09]
[Quinnipiac 11/09]
[Gallup 11/09]
[Gallup 12/09]
Medicare spends 2 or 3 percent of its budget on administration. If a government- run plan had to spend its own money to collect premiums, market itself to customers, maintain a reserve, and manage care in a way that lowers costs and raises quality – none of which Medicare now does – then you can be sure its administrative costs would be nowhere near 2 or 3 percent. [Steve Pearlstein, WP 8/19/09]
