Dreaming Of Bayh
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
I had a dream that Senator Bayh voted "no" on last Saturday's health care cloture motion. His courage of leadership drew other moderate Democrats to join him. The Senate killed the bill.
On every Sunday news program, he discussed his position. "My vote was a statement that I won't accept a failed process," Bayh said. "It is completely unacceptable that we would bribe Senator Landrieu with $300 million to gain her vote. I will no longer vote for legislation that buys votes."
He then got on a roll. "President Obama said this process would be transparent. This wasn't. Not only did Senator Reid not give us time or the American people time to read the proposed bill, this bill was drafted in a way so that it could not be understood. This has been a bad process that resulted in bad legislation," said the clearly irritated Bayh.
He wasn't done. "We were told a health care bill needs to be deficit neutral," said Bayh. "The CBO's calculation of $848 billion is a joke. I believe this bill will end up costing taxpayers three, four ... maybe 10 times this estimated cost. I'm ashamed to be associated with this process," Bayh said. "Therefore, I have created a bipartisan committee. In January, we will propose a true health care reform bill. It will have six points. Our bill is 50 pages in length. We will post it on Jan. 4, 2010, when we bring the bill to the Senate floor. Our six ideas can be implemented without cost. We are proposing administrative, legal, and insurance changes which will cut $500 billion in health care costs over the next 10 years - without touching Medicare benefits. The minimal start-up costs for our program will be paid for by a 15 percent reduction in the Department of Health and Human Services."
Bayh then concluded, "This is a small step toward solving a big problem. It's our first step. When we prove that we can accomplish these first steps, then we will propose further ideas. In all of this, we recognize that we have the best health care system in the world. We want to improve it, not destroy it."
I then woke up! This was simply a dream. Bayh voted, "yes."
Brad Skiles
Warsaw, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
I had a dream that Senator Bayh voted "no" on last Saturday's health care cloture motion. His courage of leadership drew other moderate Democrats to join him. The Senate killed the bill.
On every Sunday news program, he discussed his position. "My vote was a statement that I won't accept a failed process," Bayh said. "It is completely unacceptable that we would bribe Senator Landrieu with $300 million to gain her vote. I will no longer vote for legislation that buys votes."
He then got on a roll. "President Obama said this process would be transparent. This wasn't. Not only did Senator Reid not give us time or the American people time to read the proposed bill, this bill was drafted in a way so that it could not be understood. This has been a bad process that resulted in bad legislation," said the clearly irritated Bayh.
He wasn't done. "We were told a health care bill needs to be deficit neutral," said Bayh. "The CBO's calculation of $848 billion is a joke. I believe this bill will end up costing taxpayers three, four ... maybe 10 times this estimated cost. I'm ashamed to be associated with this process," Bayh said. "Therefore, I have created a bipartisan committee. In January, we will propose a true health care reform bill. It will have six points. Our bill is 50 pages in length. We will post it on Jan. 4, 2010, when we bring the bill to the Senate floor. Our six ideas can be implemented without cost. We are proposing administrative, legal, and insurance changes which will cut $500 billion in health care costs over the next 10 years - without touching Medicare benefits. The minimal start-up costs for our program will be paid for by a 15 percent reduction in the Department of Health and Human Services."
Bayh then concluded, "This is a small step toward solving a big problem. It's our first step. When we prove that we can accomplish these first steps, then we will propose further ideas. In all of this, we recognize that we have the best health care system in the world. We want to improve it, not destroy it."
I then woke up! This was simply a dream. Bayh voted, "yes."
Brad Skiles
Warsaw, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092