Some of you that have been following my blog know that I read most of the original House's version of Health Care Reform. (See earlier post 8/13/09). I also promised that I would stay on top of things to try and keep us aware of what is actually contained in the bills about health care. Unfortunately I can't do that. Why, you may ask? Because the "Lords and Ladies" in the House and the Senate are not going to repeat their "mistake" of this past summer and post the bills online to be read by the citizenry. There are several versions of Health Care Reform floating through committees in the House and the Senate, but the Democrats have voted time and time again against making them public. In fact, in the Senate, they voted down an effort to require the final bill to be posted online for the public to read. Furthermore, when one version of health care was voted out of the Senate HELP Committee, the Democrats made over 70 changes to the bill without the knowledge or approval of the minority members of the committee. In other words, the bill they voted out of committee was completely changed before it was sent to its next step.
Why the secrecy? What are they so terrified of? When a child is being secretive, they're usually up to something. When a used care salesman is evasive, a smart consumer runs the other way. The actions of the Democrats in the Congress right now does not pass the sniff test. I don't care if you are a Republican, Democrat or Independent, this is not how our country should be run. I would be equally ticked off if the Republicans were the majority party and were pulling the same garbage. "We the people" have the absolute right to know what is in the bills that are about to be voted on. Politicians have absolutely no right to try and hide it from us. And if their legislation cannot stand the light of day, then there is something seriously wrong. In fact, Max Baucus, author of one Senate version, whined that it would take two weeks to get the bill posted online. Is it hand-written? If it was written on a computer anywhere, he could e-mail it to me and I could have it posted in 15 minutes. Surely someone in the Capital has the ability to do such a complicated and difficult task in the modern era.
Furthermore, the proponents of Health Care Reform are crowing about the supposed CBO (Congressional Budget Office) estimates about Baucus's bill. They are claiming that it will be self-funded and cut the deficit by $81 billion in ten years. The CBO does not exactly have a glowing track record on the accuracy of their estimates. What's even more disconcerting is that they don't have an actual bill written yet. It is a draft. Therefore, it does not include all the changes that will yet be made to it and cannot therefore correctly estimate a final cost. There is even talk that the full Senate will be voting on this draft rather than a final written bill. They'll fill in the blanks later. That's like writing a blank check to a gambling addict! We're supposed to trust them with the checkbook? And then we will have no right to read it until after it is already law? This is dishonest, it is deceptive, it is condescending and arrogant on an unimaginable level and it stinks to high heaven.
There is "an effort by Reps. Greg Walden (R-OR) and John Culberson (R-TX) to change House rules to require all bills to be posted online for a minimum of 72 hours before they are brought to a vote on the House floor. More information is available at http://www.gopleader.gov/readthebill/." (http://johnboehner.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=149267) Sounds like a fabulous idea to me. Call your Senator and demand that their bill be completed and made public BEFORE they vote on it. I don't buy anything sight unseen, especially not legislation that will affect every single one of us in a massive way. Call your Representative and tell them to post the bills and let the public read them. They represent US, not the other way around.
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