Posted on 05/12/2009 8:41:29 AM PDT by reaganaut1
Forty-five House Democrats in the party’s moderate-to-conservative wing have protested the secretive process by which party leaders in their chamber are developing legislation to remake the health care system.
The lawmakers, members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, said they were “increasingly troubled” by their exclusion from the bill-writing process.
They expressed their concerns in a letter delivered Monday to three House committee chairmen writing the bill, which House leaders hope to pass this summer.
Representative Mike Ross, an Arkansas Democrat who is chairman of the coalition’s health task force, said: “We don’t need a select group of members of Congress or staff members writing this legislation. We don’t want a briefing on the bill after it’s written. We want to help write it.”
Mr. Ross and eight other lawmakers who signed the letter are on the committees responsible for writing the legislation.
Centrist Democrats said they fully endorsed President Obama’s goal of guaranteeing access to health insurance and health care for all. But, they said, they are concerned about the cost of the legislation, which could easily top $1 trillion over 10 years. And they want to be sure that the role of any new government-sponsored insurance program, expected to be a centerpiece of the bill, is carefully delineated.
Many Blue Dogs come from usually Republican districts or swing districts and see their stance on health care as vital to their political survival. By contrast, the committee chairmen writing the House bill have safe Democratic seats.
The Blue Dogs said the policy-making process in the House compared unfavorably with the approach in the Senate, where two committees have held open forums and the chairman of the Finance Committee, a Democrat, is working with the panel’s senior Republican.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“Centrist” Democrats. Blah blah blah - and barf.
We need to ALL write these Blue Dog Dems and tell them we don’t WANT/NEED Nationalized healthcare....and why....
The blue dogs are the only thing between us and utter tyranny.
When it comes right down to it, they are all still just a bunch of “Nancy Boys.”
Blue Dog Leadership Team
Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration
Rep. Baron Hill (IN-09), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy
Rep. Charlie Melancon (LA-03), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications
Rep. Heath Shuler (NC-11), Blue Dog Whip
Blue Dog Members
Altmire, Jason (PA-04)
Arcuri, Mike (NY-24)
Baca, Joe (CA-43)
Barrow, John (GA-12)
Berry, Marion (AR-01)
Bishop, Sanford (GA-02)
Boren, Dan (OK-02)
Boswell, Leonard (IA-03)
Boyd, Allen (FL-02)
Bright, Bobby (AL-02)
Cardoza, Dennis (CA-18)
Carney, Christopher (PA-10)
Chandler, Ben (KY-06)
Childers, Travis (MS-01)
Cooper, Jim (TN-05)
Costa, Jim (CA-20)
Cuellar, Henry (TX-28)
Davis, Lincoln (TN-04)
Donnelly, Joe (IN-02)
Ellsworth, Brad (IN-08)
Giffords, Gabrielle (AZ-08)
Gordon, Bart (TN-06)
Griffith, Parker (AL-05)
Harman, Jane (CA-36)
Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie (SD)
Hill, Baron (IN-09)
Holden, Tim (PA-17)
Kratovil, Jr., Frank (MD-01)
McIntyre, Mike (NC-07)
Marshall, Jim (GA-03)
Matheson, Jim (UT-02)
Melancon, Charlie (LA-03)
Michaud, Mike (ME-02)
Minnick, Walt (ID-01)
Mitchell, Harry (AZ-05)
Moore, Dennis (KS-03)
Murphy, Patrick (PA-08)
Nye, Glenn (VA-02)
Peterson, Collin (MN-07)
Pomeroy, Earl (ND)
Ross, Mike (AR-04)
Salazar, John (CO-03)
Sanchez, Loretta (CA-47)
Schiff, Adam (CA-29)
Scott, David (GA-13)
Shuler, Heath (NC-11)
Space, Zack (OH-18)
Tanner, John (TN-08)
Taylor, Gene (MS-04)
Thompson, Mike (CA-01)
Wilson, Charles (OH-06)
Thank goodness some of the Democrats in Congress who may be less radical and less socialist are waking up on these statist/socialist/big government plans. The take over of health care is not what the USA needs now or ever to improve health care. What we have in the private and insured sector is OK and will be better with a few tweaks-tweaks that are made in consultation with all involved, not just Pelosi and Co. Those that are uninsured or have trouble paying for their health care can be served without turning the USA in a form of Cuban communism.
If you think that this will stop them from voting lock step in favor of it FUGEDABUOTIT!
I bet Dan Boren (D-OK) is on board this time after all the flack he caught by voting with Pelosi on spending our tax dollars.
They may have had it but more importantly I believe they want reelection and when you vote against your constituents who are running 2-1 or more against something, you had better be taking stand against Pelosi/Reid/ZERO on something major.
With SanFran Nan’s current problems, some of the Blue Dogs might be more likely to bolt her edicts.
NOW is the time to be flooding the aboves’ office. PUT THE PRESSURE ON !!!
These guys should be the ones that we apply the heat to.
They owe their elections to the foul mood of the electorate toward the GOP, not because their districts have gone liberal.
They know they are between a rock and a hard place. Either they march in lockstep with Nancy and risk the backlash of their constituents or vote for the interests of their constituents and risk punishment from the party. Either way they are ripe to be replaced in 2010.
Eric, do you have some information on damaging legislation they have stopped? It seems that thus far, if Obama wants something, he gets it, centrists or not.
It’s all too brutally simple.
Obama has had a free ride up to now. But the dem congresscritters are taking a closer look at the electoral consequences of the recently passed legislation and what is now on the table and are no longer in lock-step mode. They are now individidually calculating what it does to their personal re-election chances and speaking and voting accordingly. Obama has not had to do any serious horse-trading and negotiating until now and if he thinks he can intimidate DEM congressmen and senators as easily as he can intimidate RINO’s, journos and CEO’s he’s in for a painful lesson.
"I was against this, before I was for it."
My friend, I just pray that you are correct.
So far many have come out against Cap and Trade and now they are making these objections on health care.
They are hearing it from back home. If they weren’t they would not be standing up.
They are the Achilles Heel of the Democrat majority and should be the focus of attack against these onerous programs.
Bob Pear is faking it!
We are totally screwed if we think that these filthy scum rats are going to side with the American people over the communists Obama and Pelosi.
Gabriele Giffords is a blue dog???? hahahaha what a joke she votes with Pelosi 99% of the time.
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