Blue Dogs Roll Over

IBD Editorials ^ | July 30, 2009 | INVESTOR BUSINESS DAILY Staff

[Kaslin]

Congress: In exchange for a vague promise of cuts in the cost of health care "reform," a few fiscally conservative Democrats agree to release the bill to a September floor vote. Have the pit bulls become Chihuahuas?

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Apparently even a Blue Dog Democrat will stop growling if you toss him a big enough bone. Four of the seven who helped keep the House bill bottled up in the Energy and Commerce Committee — Mike Ross of Arkansas, Baron Hill of Indiana, Zack Space of Ohio and Bart Gordon of Tennessee — agreed to vote the bill out of committee in exchange for a promise of unspecified cuts.

Ross, a Blue Dog Coalition leader, said changes agreed to by the defectors and the leadership would cut the cost of the trillion-dollar House bill by almost $100 billion over the next decade. What the cuts are remains unknown, and in the past such promises of cuts have been like Lucy offering to hold the football one more time for Charlie Brown. In exchange, for their consciences, there won't be a floor vote before September.

There are additional parts to the deal. The compromise would allow states to create health "co-ops" that would also compete with a government-run "public option" and private insurers. Rates on the "public option" would not be tied to Medicare, but separately negotiated. Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman agreed to loosen the employer mandate so that it covered firms with payrolls over $500,000 rather than the original $400,000.

[Yardstick]

Exactly. And since the true cost of this thing is going to be some multiple of the current projection, that measley $100 billion might as well not even exist.

[ExTxMarine]

The problem here is that if this gets passed, even with “Republican suggestions,” is that as soon as the House and Senate both pass a bill, they will come together WITHOUT Republicans when rectifying the differences and all the crap the Democrats want will be put back in and the Repubs will look even more stupid when they vote against something that they once voted for.

The answer is NO and start over!!!

[SunkenCiv]

And really, that’s only $333 a person — spread out over ten years.

[rabidralph]

Rush mentioned this earlier last week—to forget about the Blue Dogs because they took us for a ride with their PUMA/Hillary campaign. The Blue Dogs will always roll over for their dem masters.

[Mr. Silverback]

OK folks, our mission is to put the fear of the people in every Congresscritter over the next month.

[ExTxMarine]

“...that’s only $333 a person...”

Yep, but you only get $1.09 in return services per person! And I am pretty sure that amount is the “best case scenario!”

[Mr. Silverback]

One other thing: Don’t forget that a ferw Blue Dogs is not enough. They need almost all of them to vote for the bill in order to get it passed. We can still win this, and maybe even win it big. Keep the pressure on.

[bareford101]

I didn’t see the earlier statement about the blue dogs... as far as I can see now, they are lap dogs, not blue dogs.

[Daryl L.Hunter]

[Eric Blair 2084]

weasels... all of them...

FReeper instant trivia question: There is actually one blue dog who voted against all the left wing bills.

Lifetime supply of rice a roni for the FReeper who names him.

[Dream Warrior]

In the end, Bluedog Democrats are still Democrats.

Rather than concerned American Patriots.

[mojitojoe]

Bright? Alabama?

[bustinchops]

Good. They’ll get voted out. If/when the pubs retake the House, they can simply never appropriate the funds to deploy the program.

[bustinchops]

And just think. They cudda been contenders.

[bustinchops]

Yeah. All the talk of shelving this thing knocks people off their guard.

[Kaslin]

Good. They’ll get voted out. If/ When the pubs retake the House, they can simply never appropriate the funds to deploy the program.

This is much better

[Fresh Wind]

[SunkenCiv]

LOL!

[Redbob]

“Blue dogs” all turn out to be female dogs...

[Eric Blair 2084]

You got it! You win at internets. Or you read the same Wall Street Journal article that I did done by a real journalist.

If these assclowns want to keep their job they can be honest.