Roy Blunt on GOP plan: Never mind
U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt
Roy Blunt, chair of the House GOP Health Care Solutions Group, has decided that Republicans don’t need their own version of a health care reform plan.
Blunt, of course, is the congressional rep from Springfield, Mo. He’s running for the Senate to replace Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond, who is retiring.
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said, “Our bill is never going to get to the floor, so why confuse the focus? We clearly have principles; we could have language, but why start diverting attention from this really bad piece of work they’ve got to whatever we’re offering right now?”
Blunt’s not alone in his derision of the bill. Also from The Hill:
… (T)his summer, GOP lawmakers in the lower chamber intend to forgo a reprisal of that initiative and instead plan to fire up their voters by discussing what they call “job-killing” Democratic policies.
“I’d rather go debate at home and see our members carry the message there, and frankly I’d like to see the Democrats go home and get pounded on,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the former head of the House GOP campaign arm.
Earlier this week, many House Republicans went to the floor to repeatedly note the public’s eroding lack of confidence in the $787 billion stimulus law, asking, “Where are the jobs?”
A Washington Post-affiliated blog called “Who Runs Gov” said that the Democrats are planning to hammer on Blunt’s acknowledgment that Republicans have no plan
This reporting comes the day after President Barack Obama gave a televised prime-time press conference focusing on health care reform.
As the Associated Press reported, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats have the votes for health care reform. From the AP:
While Pelosi said she has “no question” that Democrats have the votes they need, she stopped short of promising the full House would act on the legislation before beginning a monthlong vacation at the end of July.
But moderate and conservative Democrats bristled at the speaker’s comment. From the AP story:
Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La., expressed unhappiness at the Speaker’s words. “I’ve been meeting to death, so if that has been for naught until they counted votes, and just to occupy our time, I’m sorry,” he said.
“I thought we were legitimately having conversations about writing a good health care bill for America.”
Reuters said the president faces “uncertain prospects” with his health care reform push:
One reason Obama has been so adamant about getting an agreement as soon as possible is to keep up the momentum and not let efforts to complete an overhaul die, as the last attempt to change the system did in 1993 when Bill and Hillary Clinton’s proposals went down in defeat.
The president has been using the bully pulpit of the White House to argue for a deal, and is quite willing to use campaign-style tactics to exert maximum pressure.
And the Washington Post said, “With the effort in danger of flagging and spilling into the autumn months where momentum could fade, Obama made his case for the overhaul and took on his critics.”
The next few weeks will be very interesting.
Jamie Riley is the P-D letters editor and gatekeeper of the letters blog. Before joining the editorial page in May 2005, she was a reporter and page designer. Jamie lives in University City with her husband, Charles, daughter, Elise, and the world's best Jack Russell terrier, Logan, better known as Stinky. 
Wish Rep. Blunt would summarize opposition to the President’s BluePill-RedPill plan
just as succinctly as Mr. Obama did in supporting it:
“If there’s a blue pill and a red pill, and the blue pill is half the price of the red pill and works just as well, why not pay half price for the thing that’s going to make you well?” — President Obama
Excellent summary of Obama’s speech:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Take-the-red-pill-Mr-President-51473502.html
No health care plan save dislike for what the democrats have forged. The leader of the republican party, rush oxycontin limbaugh true to his words: ”I hope he fails”.
If he did have one, would you have paid any attention?
Personally I would like to see Republicans offer some sort of alternative, but he’s absolutely right. Why waste taxpayer time and money composing legislation that will never get to the floor and that the public likely will never hear about.
Nancy Pelosi has lower approval ratings than Dick Cheney and far lower approval ratings than Sarah Palin. And yet Democrats have allowed her policy values to carry the day - David Brooks
Of course not Jack. The Post played this silly game last summer when the Republicans stayed in Washington to hammer out an energy bill during the record price spikes after the Democrats gave up and ran away. The Post thinks that just because they don’t report something people will actually believe nothing is going on.
Never mind that it makes little sense for Republicans to waste time on a counter proposal when there’s no chance in heck it will come to the floor, but it’s disingenuous at best to claim they aren’t doing anything. They’ve offered several serious amendments only to have them summarily dismissed.
Obama’s rambling, incoherent press conference last night is like a metaphor for his short term as president. Stories like this are meant soley to deflect attention from Obamacare’s impending collapse and to shift blame from where it belongs.
…is like a metaphor…
That wasn’t at all redundant, was it?
If the Republicans put a plan out there, liberals and the media will waste time picking apart that plan, which has absolutely no chance of passing, while the Pelosi plan is pushed through. Just because Republicans don’t put forward a plan doesn’t mean the Pelosi plan is good. In fact, pointing out the faults with the Pelosi plan could be the best way of saving our healthcare system.
Where is Robin Carnahan? Seriously - have we heard anything out of her mouth on this (or any other) issue?
Christ, at least Blunt is out there engaged on the issue. And he happens to be right, anyway. This bill is garbage.
Glad you are covering this, but where were you guys when Russ Carnahan LIED about the cost of Obamacare? Sure, this is news, but when the proponents of the legislation are outright lying about it (and getting laughed at by their constituents), I think that is pretty important.
The people who propose a massive government takeover of the economy are the ones who have the burden to prove it is a good idea. Blunt is right, the GOP bill will never make the light of day anyway, so why bother. Work on improving this bill, or just kill it outright.
Obama-care: The target, takeover of 100% of the healthcare in the United States, exercise control over population from womb (and decide who gets to exit) to tomb (and decide when you enter it).
Strategy: Twist facts like: “50 million uninsured” Never mind that number is the AGGREGATE of all those uninsured during a year, even if only for a day, people like bullet proof young adults who CHOOSE to not spend the money, and the balance in ILLEGALs…all of whom get healthcare when they need it. In other words: LIE, and that is what we heard Wednesday night
Why is it the Obama Team REFUSES to release his Birth Certificate? Especially if there is nothing to hide?
Why has no state-run media mentioned all the GOP amendments to the bill to approve it? I think it is now being reported that Reid (who doesn’t have the votes obviously) says there won’t be a vote until after the recess. Thank God some intelligent people showed unlike those who proposed rushing a vote that is going to totally remake our country.
I am totally about revamping healthcare, but as someone who has to deal with government paperwork, it is more important to get this right. Anything 1,100 pages long should be taken home, read, and then they should all be tested on it, including Obama, before they vote. It is disgraceful to hear politicians who have not read this bill just make up facts as they go along and then when it is too late, we’ll find out what is really in it.
Good for Blunt for being an honest politician! That’s something the Democrats could take a lesson in.
And what will Blunt do for average Missourians; “Nothing!” That’s the GOP plan for everything because having completely shafted the middle class and given it all away to Big Tobacco (who Blunt sleeps with, literally!), Big Oil, insurance companies and drug companies. Of course these fascist corporatists don’t want change. Heck, they can’t even admit President Obama was born in the USA!
Jamie,
I know you’ve probably been very busy collecting those Obama souvenir dinner plates, but you have really missed the boat on Republican support for healthcare reform.
Earlier this year, Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat, proposed meaningful health care reforms that had almost as many Republican co-sponsors as Democrats, and on July 20 of this year, GOP National Chairman Michael Steele addressed the health care issue in an speech to the National Press Club that spelled out the specifics of the GOP plan. Unfortunately, neither the Obama Administration, the Democrat leadership in the Congress, or the news media thought the American people deserved to hear both sides of the debate.
With the ObamaCare plan now faltering as its details become public, Republicans are waiting to see what type of bill finally emerges from the House and Senate committees. Since the President and his Congressional allies believe they can sell their government takeover plan to the American people and pass a bill without Republican support or input, it’s only fitting that the proposal lives, or eventually dies, at the hands of Democrats. Like the President is fond of saying, elections have consequences.
You made it sound like the Roy Blunt is the only one who doesn’t like this legislation. At least you started to cover the truth in the summary.
Obviously, you don’t know much about how the House Leadership works. Unless it comes from the White House or is from deep within their party, it will never see the light of day.
I think that Blunt’s question, “why start diverting attention from this really bad piece of work they’ve got?” is right on the spot.
Nick Kasoff is an idiot.
1) as a democrat, I want to see the republicans plan. If any of it makes sense the hell let’s use it. Politics are irrelevant; we need this done, and done right, so lets do it right.
2) 1,100 pages? A bill that is more than 10 pages single-spaced is far too long.
3) Let’s talk about the $40 million drug companies spent to lobby congress against things like re-importation of drugs from Canada and price controls.
4) I disagree with Nick Kasoff, frequently, but he is far from an idiot and I don’t appreciate those ad hominem attacks. Stick to the topic please.
Jamie, where could I get a copy of the President’s own plan? I mean if Blunt’s to be taken to the shed for not offering his own plan, then perhaps it might be useful if the Post could point folks to the plan the White House drafted…
I believe the Democrats miss Blunt’s point, unfortunately, as they often do. The Republicans do have a plan, but why bother trotting it out, when the Democrats will not allow it to be heard. So far Obama’s lap dogs, Baucus and Reid, are running the most partisan Congress (relating to health care reform) in history. It’s just now beginning to come back and bite ‘em in the rear! Roy’s got a great seat with a great view. Nobody destroys Democrats like Democrats, themselves, given enough time.
Older Americans need to fear and to ask tough questions about this Obama-care plan: It may be a Euthenasia Plan disguised as a Healtcare Insurance plan. Word along those line is leaking out and it appears to be confirmed by the Presidents own words in answer to a question: “A pill to ease the pain may be a better investment than a pacemaker in an old person”
What’s up? Is there a plan to save money by letting older Americans die rather than spend money on their healtcare? Let’s ask that question.
a_mac asked where he could get a copy of the various health reform proposals from the president and Congress.
The Kaiser Family Foundation has a good side-by-sade comparison available here:
http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/healthreform_sbs_full.pdf
The House Republican Health Solutions Group has an outline of its proposal, which is short on detail but available here:
http://blunt.house.gov/Read.aspx?ID=1140
Kaiser also has an excellent primer on the uninsured, available here:
http://www.kff.org/uninsured/upload/7451-04.pdf
Hope this helps inform your comments.
Yes, it makes for an exciting political game, doesn’t it? Of course, when all the celebrating is done after defeating yet another health plan, more and more people will be without health coverage–and lives will hang in the balance. And just wait til these folks so eager to defeat a plan find out how much it costs if you’re not part of an insurable group. I’ve been able to afford it so far since getting downsized (except for what they’ve deemed my “pre-existing conditions”–there isn’t enough money in the world to get coverage for whatever THEY decide is a pre-existing condition), but I know a lot of people who can’t afford coverage, and they can’t sleep nights. By the way, if you’re worried about dealing with a government bureaucrat, just wait’ll you tangle with someone who’s annual bonus is based on denying your claim. So go ahead and celebrate, all you folks with your cozy health coverage for just a few hundred dollars a month. You have NO IDEA what you’re in for when your employer-subsidized coverage all goes up in smoke. I wonder if you’ll still think it’s funny that the health plan didn’t pass.
More GOP can’t, won’t try to reform for the benefit of people as opposed to big insurance and pharmaceutical companies…so what’s new. I pray for this reform, as a board member of a major hospital and a family man.
BLA, bla,bla, wish Blunt would just shut the hell up. He knows nothing about health care.
Government needs to get their tails out of Health Insurance! They are the ones that are making it worse with all their mandates. What the politicians thoughts are is “Thank God the electorate is too stupid to figure it out.” Oh, lets not forget the people with their hands out looking for a freebie. Why would anyone give a politician so much say in their life?
This man scares me. Totally out of touch with reality. His son when Govenor was his mirror image.
SoCOBoy:”Why is it the Obama Team REFUSES to release his Birth Certificate? Especially if there is nothing to hide?”
The birth certificate has been displayed. The Hawaii officials have
declared that it is official. Reporters have even found 2 notices of the birth in the issues of Hawaiian newspapers.
People like SoCoBoy are racists, determined to stir up all the hatred
of Obama possible; they wouldn’t accept the Birth Certificate if it were
delivered in gold by God’s angels.
tartan:”It may be a Euthenasia Plan disguised as a Healtcare Insurance plan. Word along those line is leaking out and it appears to be confirmed by the Presidents own words in answer to a question: “A pill to ease the pain may be a better investment than a pacemaker in an old person””"
Typical of tartan’s posts.
Ranting at the top of this voice, he claims “A pill to ease the pain”
is euthenasia.
Tartan is too stupid to realize that sometimes a pill is nothing more
than… a pill. I’m right now taking pain pills and other medication
for an infection which I picked up from a procedure done in a doctor’s
office, but I don’t think they plan to kill me.
Some people are just paranoid; enter Tartan’s name on the list.
Roy Blount’s website says Republicans would:”Protect Americans from being forced into a new government-run health care plan that would: a) eliminate the health care coverage that more than 100 million Americans currently receive through their job; b) limit your choice of doctors and medical treatment options; and c) result in the federal government taking control of your health care.”
No Roy would SELL the American people to the Drug/Insurance Companies and various providers who, faced with the probability that SOME sort of program will pass, are spending a billion dollars in contributions and lobbyists to make sure all the profits will go their way. Of course they support it: what auto maker/dealer wouldn’t support a law that all Americans had to buy a car. And is obvious, judging from the comments I see here, the drug/insurance companies have not spent their billions in vain: many like getting premature approval of every procedure, arguing over the phone with an insurance high school girl as to whether their procedure is covered or not.
BUT THE OUTRAGEOUS THING IS THAT ROY’S ASSERTIONS ARE A LIE.
In the Obama plan, people can choose the plan they like and if they
prefer their existing employer plan, they can continue.
But the most outrageous claim is that they would take control of your
choice of doctors and treatment. [Roy is trying to scare you into the hands of the insurance companies so they will continue to make nice
contributions to his next election.]
HIS CLAIM ABOUT GOVERNMENT CONTROL IS A DISGUSTING LIE
I’ve had Medicare which — tho George W Bush was ignorant of the fact –
IS a “government” program for 20 years.
I have chosen all the doctors I want to see WITHOUT limitation, pre-approval, or questions afterward.
There has been NO limitation on any procedures: under Medicare I’ve had
16 surgeries ranging from plastic surgery for basal cell carcinomas to detached retina to macular hole to spinal surgery, ranging from Illinois to Colorado, under a variety of doctors, and not once — NOT ONCE — has Medicare even questioned ANY of these procedures.
Never forget that the primary motivation of CEOs of Drug/Insurance companies is to increase the value of their stock options — by raising
the value of their stock — by increasing PROFITS — which are increased by (a) raising your premiums and (b) denying care. DO NOT ever make the
mistake of thinking the insurance company is your friend.
Look, there’s no incentive for these teams to work together on a solution. The Republicans couldn’t possibly jump on board any plan sponsored by the Democrats, or vice versa. It would be political suicide to agree with the “enemy” on anything. There’s just no payoff for any of our representatives except from the pharmaceutical companies that are putting $40 million dollars into these guys’ re-election coffers (remember Billy Tauzin who pushed through the Medicare drug benefit that deepened the hole because we had no way to pay for it and then retired to take a million dollars job as a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical companies?). It’s all about promises, and nothing about action. Get beyond the parties–our representatives are not from the middle struggling class. They don’t care about the middle class. They are busy making connections to that next big lobbying job.
Believe me, no health care plan is better than the REDUCTION in care that is in store under the Government take over in the OBAma-care plans. Everyone loses except for the freeloaders and illegals that get health insurance for their votes under Obama, and we, just all of us, will be paying more for less. Wise up, listen to the losses of liberty under this guy. Is this what you voted for?
There is something that doesn’t feel right about allowing companies to make profits based upon illness and suffering. Does everything in this nation have to be for the $$$? There is a big difference in making a consumer product purchase as compared to spending $$$ on a health or illness related matter. BTW, to save money in the nations health care system boils down to telling the AMA, pharma, private hospitals and health insurance companies that you’re not going to make as much $$$. The trial lawyers should also accept some limits on damage settlements.
Give please. Good design, who make it? Help me! I can not find sites on the: Retirement planning uk. I found only this - retirement planning services inc. Includes calculators, tax, and social security tables. Cnnmoney guide to planning for retirement. Thank :rolleyes: Orli from Marino.