Among the crazy rambling coming out of our beloved Democratic politicians was the statement by Barney Frank that the Senate should go and try to sign up Republicans (read, Snowe) to pass a revised bill. His basis is that the Senate bill doesn't have the votes as is, especially from progressives.
But Snowe isn't going to support a more progressive bill then the Senate bill. She's going to support a less progressive bill.
In other words, Frank is saying that the Senate should pass another less progressive bill because that will help get progressive votes in the House. HUH?
Democrats aren't supposed to be as bad as Republicans. Democrats are supposed to know that sometimes you have to govern.
I'm not going to repeat the arguments about whether the Senate bill is better than nothing (it seems like a no brainer to me), but I do want to highlight the stupidity of some of the arguments against voting on the Senate bill.
Read this discussion with a voter who called Frank:
I am a resident of Norton MA and Barney Frank is my congressman. I just called his office in DC and expressed my displeasure with his statement released last night especially the line "But our respect for democratic procedures must rule out any effort to pass a health care bill as if the Massachusetts election had not happened." I told him I didn't think we lost this election because of it was a Health Care Reform referendum but because we had a very weak Senate candidate. He agreed she did a lousy job campaigning. I told him we should just pass the Senate HCR and be done. He stated that all that would do was rile up the electorate and guarantee our further losses in November. I told him that caving in to Republican foot-dragging would kill the bill and we would not have HCR for another 15 years. He thought our best route was to try to get Snowe to come aboard with a revised Senate bill. I told him that was ridiculous, that the Republicans were emboldened by this win and I was incredulous that he thought there was any chance of getting even one Republican vote to make this bipartisan.
He then went on to list the reasons he couldn't vote for the Senate bill:
Barney Frank insisted to me that there was not the vote in the House now to pass the Senate HCR. I asked him personally if he would vote to pass the Senate HCR as it stands and get it on Obama's desk. He said he would not vote yes on the Senate bill. He cited the abortion and plan tax portions of the bill for his opposition.
The abortion provisions in the Senate bill are more progressive then in the House bill. The tax portions of the Senate bill are more progressive then the Senate Finance bill that Snowe supported. Add in what will probably be removed: CLASS Act, exchange negotiating power, and whatever other "moderation" that Snowe decides is fit. It means that the bill is only going to get more conservative.
The same reasoning applies to those advocating putting aside the reform till later. Because we all know that 2010 is looking greater for picking up more progressive votes in Congress!
Pass the Senate bill and fight for progressive changes through reconciliation. It's called governing. The House Dems need to step up and do a little. Or no one will ever attempt healthcare reform again.