Lawmakers sound off on health care reform

Lawmakers from around the United States are sounding off on health care legislation ahead of their return to Washington.

The New York Times: "Senator Jim DeMint, the South Carolina Republican who predicted that President Obama's effort to overhaul the health care system would become his 'Waterloo,' is doing his best to make that happen. … Mr. DeMint, 57, is a first-term senator, a back-bencher with little influence in Washington's corridors of power. But at home he is stoking anger over the health care issue as he advances his free-market philosophy, gains national attention and, perhaps, helps derail Mr. Obama's agenda. If that agenda is not stopped at health care, Mr. DeMint warned at a town-hall-style meeting in Greenville, 'he'll continue to spend and borrow this country into oblivion'" (Seelye, 8/30).

The New York Times in a second story details the possibility that Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, could become  the sole Republican negotiator in the Senate Finance Committee talks on reform: "Ms. Snowe and two Republican colleagues, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming, have been privately negotiating a health care plan with three Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee in what has become known as the Group of Six. But Mr. Grassley and Mr. Enzi have, during the August recess, become increasingly at odds with Democratic approaches to health care. … (She) said she was still working out the answer (to what it will take to get her support), though she said the August recess had led her to believe that Congress might have to scale back its health care expectations" (Hulse, 8/28).

The Washington Post reports: "Instead of what Democrats suggest, Enzi said Saturday that the Senate should "enact common-sense reform that will actually cut costs," including provisions to help small businesses insure their workers while reforming the tax code and medical malpractice system" (Pershing, 8/30).

Sen. Grassley is defending his $13,000 in campaign contributions since 2003 from the American Hospital Association. He called them "economic parasites" last week and told the Des Moines Register that they hold no sway on him: "Grassley projects himself as a public watchdog. But some Iowans at his public meetings around the state this month said his heavy health industry fundraising has the appearance of influencing his positions. In particular, they pointed to Grassley's opposition to optional, government-run health insurance that Americans could buy. Grassley says the campaign contributions have no effect on his positions. Some national health care reform advocates, including those who support a public option, agree" (Beaumont, 8/31).

In the meantime, Rep. Steny Hoyer, House majority leader, got a friendly reception at a women's luncheon Friday "from about 200 Southern Maryland women at an event that Hoyer hosts to commemorate the ratification of the constitutional amendment that gave women the right to vote," The Washington Post reports in a second story. "The theme was 'women in need.' But the talk focused on the issue that has dominated this month's congressional recess. 'The single greatest thing we can do for [women in need] is to reform our broken health-care system,' Hoyer said" (Hohmann, 8/30).

Other Democrats, including Democratic Reps. Raul Grijalva, of Arizona, and Henry Cuellar, spoke recently about their own health coverage as sons of migrant workers, NPR reports: Grijalva said "I think government has a major responsibility - and it's not about intervention and control, it's about extending a benefit to all Americans. This health care reform debate is really sort of narrowing down to what a public option is or is it as part of this plan" (Ludden, 8/28).

NPR reports in a second story that Sen. Kent Conrad, of North Dakota, could be the pivotal figure in the Senate Finance Committee's negotiations: "He warns that if Democratic leaders use reconciliation rules to pass health care, it will force the Senate to gut the bill like a fish: cutting out the new insurance company regulations, changes for doctors and hospitals, anything that doesn't have to do with the budget. Now, because Conrad is at the nexus of budget expertise and political centrism, Senate Democratic leaders and committee chairs asked him to device a plan that could pass the Senate and get some Republican votes. Enter the health care co-op" (Seabrook, 8/28).

Finally, Sen. Claire McCaskill will listen Monday to more people at town hall meetings in Missouri, The Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader reports. "McCaskill will listen to concerns from Ozarkers on Monday about a proposed government-run health insurance plan during town hall meetings in West Plains and Springfield. But the state's junior senator has her mind made up about the controversial plan that has sparked an emotional national debate: She supports the public option" (Livengood, 8/30).