Coldheartedtruth

A horrible disease has infiltrated America, and it's not anthrax or small-pox.... It's the disease of political gridlock, and it's running rampant. Campaign Reform and Healthcare reform died prior to Sept 11th, and now the 100 billion dollar Economic Stimulus and Relief bill has fallen prey to the deadly disease.

Unfortunately there seems to be no sure fire cure, no antibiotic, or no vaccine that can help this illness, or stop it's lethal spread... Of course in politics, when we can find the problem, but not fix it, it is not only traditional, but possibly a federal law, that one must finger point and assign blame... So here goes....

For purposes of simplicity I will assign 1 full point of blame for the three major bills currently held up in gridlock, to be distributed, at my discretion to either the Republicans or the Democrats... For those who struggle with math, get prepared... as I will be using fractions.

Campaign Reform is a tough one... Championed in the Senate by McCain and Feingold, and in the House by Shays and Meehan, it seemed to have a decent shot at passing until it got held up by a differences in the rules procedures. The Republican held House has passed campaign reform bills many times in the past, only to have the bill die in the Senate. One would expect some act of revenge, especially when the Senators in question seemed to be acting as big brother to the process in the house. The House sponsers hooked up with McCain and Feingold for what they called 'preconferencing' of the bill, basically making a series of changes in the house bill to correspond with the Senate version, thus eliminating any real need for committee. Gephardt went to work on the 'other side of the aisle' to secure the few crossvotes needed to pass the bill, making some neccessary concessions in the bill to secure the votes. Both processes, although entirely legal, seemed to irk the Republican House leadership, as they saw the Senate, and Democrats closing in on credit for something that they have quietly pushed in the past. When the sponser's decided to create a little use 'technical amendment' to encompass all the changes into one amendment... Hastert stymied the amendment, asking that they be brought up and voted on as separate amendments, instead of one 'technical' amendment. Since much of the cross-support was tied to the changes, it was important that 'all' the changes be added to the bill, else they lose individual support and thus the overall vote. With a Republican led bill picking up steam as an alternative to Shays-Mehan, Hastert wasn't backing down...Fearing that some of the amendments would not pass alone on the merits the sponsers refused to write separate amendments... thus refusing to back down themselves.

Blame - For purpose of arguments, the bills were being supported by Democrats in both the House and Senate, therefore the sponsers, by association will be considered Democrat.....1/3 to House Republican Leaders for not allowing the vote on the amendment as it stood. 1/3 on the House Democrats for not bringing the amendments alone on the merits. 1/3 to Senate Democrats for sticking their noses in the House version of the Bill, trying to bypass making any concessions in committee.

HealthCare reform is much simpler.... Neither side has done anything. They floated a misguided Patients Bill of Rights, which would not satisfy 2% of the Healthcare problems facing our nation. After agreeing to the main principle of the bill, they quibbled over the semantics long enough to see the entire bill dry up and wilt, thus posponing any possible actions that are really needed. Both sides agree that the patient should have a right to sue, which they do not currently have in many states. The questions are in regards to what process they would take, and the amount of the caps. The version supported by Breaux (D) Jeffords (I) and Frist (R) would allow for an independent appeals process that would make a recommendation before the patient would go to court. The Cap was originally set at $500,000, but later changed to $1.5 million as a compromise to the version from Kennedy (D) Edwards (D) and McCain (R) which calls for no independant appeal process, and a cap at $5 million. Since HMO leaders have already said that they would purchace mal-practice insurance to cover the expense of any lawsuits, and pass the cost of the insurance to the premiums.... it seems odd to suggest that these suits will provide any real 'incentive' to provide better treatment from HMO's, many of which are non-profit as it is... What our leaders have managed to do turn HMO's into an enemy of the public, as a means to misdirect our attention from the real Healthcare problems we face....

Blame - 1/2 Republicans 1/2 Democrats

Last but not least, the $100 billion Stimulus package. This is a classic example of the two sides agreeing to a lion's share of the bill, but allowing political rhetoric, and pride get in the way of compromise on the remaining parts.... The differences seem to be in regards to tax-breaks for businesses, a 2% drop in the 27% personal tax level, and how much and how to provide for extended insurance for the unemployeed. The business tax-breaks are a problem because both sides think they are right. Republicans do believe that such tax-breaks will help spawn those businesses to reinvest and rehire, while democrats simply don't. The 2% drop in personal income is a no-brainer... it's going to happen anyways, and would provide many middle class americans with more money in their paychecks today. Calling it 'a tax-break for the rich' as Daschle has done is pure nonsense... a classic play at class warfare that has brought the Majority Leader under justified fire. The argument over 60% tax-credit or 75% subsidy was eased by the Administrations involvement with moderate Democrats from the senate and the House republicans, as they compromised to a voucher that would cover 60% of the individuals insurance costs... In the end it comes down to a 15% difference.... But, instead of 75%, or 60% the unemployed will live with 0%.... and no expanded unemployment benefits.... Once again because of political gridlock... This bill has the support needed to pass both the house and the senate, and has the seal of approval from the administration. Both the Republican leaders in the House and Administration along with some of the moderate Democrats in the Senate have shown a willingness to compromise to get this bill passed. However, the Democratic Leadership in the Senate refuses to compromise, and the Majority leader refuse to bring it to a vote. Since the Senate does not have the 60 votes neccessary to force the vote, there is no 13 week extension for the unemployed, no healthcare subsidies for the unemployeed, and no help for either businesses or workers....

Blame - Easy..... 1/2 to the Democratic leaders who refused to participate with the moderates in compromise, and 1/2 to Daschle for not calling for the vote.

And that, my friends... is the Coldhearted Truth.....