Health Care
Democrats Strategy on Health Care Reform: Talk About "Parts" Not The Sum of the Parts... the Bill
Published February 26, 2010, 11.14 pm, CST
Additions February 26, 2020, 9:12 pm, CST
by Diane W. Collins
dcollins@marketingweb.com
House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer speaking on the House floor just moments ago displayed what appears to be the tactic of Democrats in changing public opinion on the Health Care Reform Bill. Majority Leader Hoyer talked about "parts," discussing how polls show Americans like the bill when asked about it in piecemeal fashion. This strategy removes from the view of the people the bill in its entirety and the devastating effect on the American economy. It hides the thorns. We have all heard the quote, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts," an understatement when applied to this bill. Republicans should not allow them to get away with this.
Majority Leader Hoyer and Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi have both sought today to show bipartisan contribution to this monolithic Health Care Reform bill which was crafted behind closed doors without Republican participation. Democrats will try to take clips from the Health Care Reform summit held yesterday and apply them to campaign ads in 2010 elections. Firm resolve to drop this bill as Republicans demonstrated at the Summit must be continued... especially before the cameras.
One Republican in Congress who seems to understand the importance of keeping the issues in front of the American people is Rep. Michele Bachmann, (R) MN. According to Rep. Bachmann's website, prior to serving in the U.S. Congress, Bachmann served in the Minnesota State Senate where she championed the Taxpayers Bill of Rights. (Earlier in her career Rep. Bachmann spent five years as a federal tax litigation attorney, working on hundreds of civil and criminal cases.)
Today Rep. Bachmann spoke about the Declaration of Health Care Independence and the Republican alternatives to the Democrats monolithic Health Care Reform Bill. The Declaration gives ten "rules of the road" for going forward on health care reform. According to Rep. Bachmann, approximately 100 members of Congress have signed the document. It points out some of the "thorns" we should avoid and gives a process forward to bipartisan health care reform. Rep. Steve King (R) Iowa and Rep. Phil Gingrey (R) Georgia contributed to the Declaration. Rep. Gingrey was a medical doctor prior to serving as a congressman in the House of Representatives.
Despite the efforts of Republicans to offer bipartisan solutions, the Democrats appear to be steadfast in their intent to ram health care reform through Congress using reconciliation. More on their strategy tomorrow.
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