I (heart) Harkin
Sen. Tom Harkin
There was a lot of talk about the public health insurance option over the weekend. From a steak fry fundraiser in Iowa to the Sunday morning talk shows to a rally in Minnesota attended by the president, the opinions on the status of the public option varied wildly.
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has vowed that now that he runs an important Senate committee, the health care reform bill will have a strong public option.
According to CNN, Harkin told the crowd at a fundraiser:
“That bill — mark my word, I’m the chairman — is going to have a strong public option,” he added to thunderous applause.
Harkin now chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. That seat had been held by the late Sen. Edward “Ted” Kennedy, D-Mass., a longtime champion of expanded health care access.
He apparently also said the bill, to be ready by Christmas, would have Republican support. Most have looked to Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, but a New York Times story says that’s unlikely. She said, “… there’s no way to pass a plan that includes the public option.”
Health insurance companies are against a public health insurance option. Snowe has taken more than $1.4 million from health insurance companies.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also indicated that the public option is a no-go in the Senate. Graham has taken more than $1 million from the health care industry.
At a Minnnesota rally, President Barack Obama said he wants the public option, but remains flexible on how to set it up.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., told George Stephanopoulos that a public option would “undermine the private insurance system.” Landrieu has taken $1.6 million from the health care industry.
Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told CNN, “The public option is a priority for us, it’s our objective, and we think that in some form, a public option will be available.”
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said he’s giving Republicans one last chance to support his plan, which has no public option, before he joins other Democrats and forgoes bipartisanship. Baucus has been saying all summer that a public option is not viable. Baucus has taken more than $5 million from the health care industry.
And even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., seems to be backing down from her earlier claim that the public option is a must. At a press conference after meeting with the president today, she said, “Well, you know, this, as I say, is the legislative process. And right now, we will have a public option in our bill.”
Last week she said, “I don’t think you ever really go into a negotiation and say that some things are non-negotiable.”
According to CNN, “This is about a goal. It’s not about provisions,” Pelosi said, adding that as long as legislation meets goals of “affordability and accessibility and quality … then we will go forward with that bill.”
Pelosi has taken more than $925,000 from the health care industry. She may be about to get a little more. RawStory reports that a lobbyist for UnitedHealth is hosting a fundraiser for Pelosi next Thursday. How nice.
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. 
I (heart) Eric Mink.
What this paper needs to turn the corner to profitability is just one more true liberal voice.
So you “heart” Harkin, and you bash everyone else for taking money. Well, it’s not as though Harkin hasn’t taken any money from special interests. According to opensecrets.org, your hearthrob was supported by the following industries over his career in the Senate:
Lawyers & law firms, $2 million
Health professionals, $1.4 million
Securities and investment, $800,000
Lobbyists, $765,000
Pharmaceuticals, $724,000
Insurance, $450,000
And frankly, I think it’s a bit hypocritical for you to bash industries for campaign contributions. If Congress was considering addressing the critical shortage of competition in the newspaper industry by creating government funded newspapers in markets with only a single daily paper, I’ll be the Post-Dispatch would shriek with outrage, and would become quite involved in trying to influence public policy. Now, suppose that not only were they going to create a “public option newspaper” but also, they were going to pass regulations dictating that you must follow the lead of the public option paper in terms of content and pricing, or be put out of business. Sounds a little less appealing when you’d be the victim, doesn’t it?
But you’ll say we should do this with healthcare and not newspapers, because healthcare is too important to be left to the private sector. Really? What is more important to the future of our republic, quality prenatal care, or vigorous public discourse? What is more important to our nation, Sudafed or muckraking journalism? How can we trust that, in a one newspaper town, all wrongdoing will be expose? Why should we not have a publicly funded newspaper to ensure that everyone can get one?
–I (heart) the constitution.
–You know, that thing with the amendments, those things which enumerates rights that are delegated to the people, including the 10th amendment, which states:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
–That’s mainly why state legislators are against a federal-run boondoggle of health insurance. That and because they’re going to lose their cushy jobs if they vote for it.
To Jamie Riley,
Your picture indicates you are much younger than I am. Harkin ran for president in the same primary as Bill Clinton’s first run. Harkin is one of those to whom the word Statesman is applicable. His legislative record is on a par with Ted Kennedy. If you look at the history of his run for the presidency, you will admire him even more for his prescient platform. Our country would be a much better place had he won the nomination. Not all the good die young, when they are as good as Harkin it just seems like they aren’t around long enough.
So all you can say about this weekend and health care/government/people’s opinions is ‘there was a lot of talk…’??? No mention of at least ONE MILLION PEOPLE that marched in Washington on Saturday???? No mention of ONE MILLION people that marched to voice their opinions on health care and big government. Shame on St. Louis Dispatch for not covering this (I admit I have not seen the Monday paper). Shame on St. Louis Dispatch for not printing one word (that I can see) about the Acorn Abomination—-The Acorn employees who seemed so happy to help a young prostitute and her pimp/boyfriend find a place to conduct business (and to house 13 year old prospective prostitutes). Not one word about Acorn (possibly) no longer being the purveyor of upcoming US census (thank God)???? Does a group’s opinion have to be a ‘majority opinion’ as David Axelrod calls it, to be covered in the press and non/cable tv news these days???? And and and it seems that anyone who opposes Obama is a racist. That’s the sludge that is coming out of our ‘mainstream’ press now. Breathtaking!!!!
And despite all the influence peddling you cite and corruption you choose to ignore (Acorn), the Left still want to further expand the federal government’s reach and powers.
The federal debt and seventy trillion dollars in unfunded federal liabilities have demonstrated that U.S. taxpayers can’t sustain the huge bureacracy already in place. Yet, you want it enlarged.
Yeah, it must be the (heart) because the brain certainly isn’t working. Do the math.
“Health insurance companies are against a public health insurance option. Snowe has taken more than $1.4 million from health insurance companies.”
This fact alone should cause people to jump on board to support a “public option”.
“RawStory reports that a lobbyist for UnitedHealth Care is hosting a fundraiser for Pelosi next Thursday. How nice.”
This is absolutely B.S. Why on earth would Nancy Pelosi accept such at a time as this? What about appearances of wrongdoing?
What is needed more than anything in government right now as much as healthcare reform are laws to get Lobbyist and corporations out of Washington and fundraising for politicians. After this healthcare issue cause is voted upon, no matter the outcome, every man, and woman need to come together and make sure this happen, GET CORPORATIONS MONEY OUT! AND VOTE THESE PEOPLE OUT! All that is needed to show these people are to get Independents to run against them on the platform of getting lobbyists and corporations out of Washington.
I am sick and tired of corporations buying our politicians!
On the contrary, Walker. It shows another of the many reasons the nation’s founders warned against a huge centralized national government. So many people have “jumped on board” decades of bureacratic federal programs that the boat is about to go down with all hands. Do the math.
To A,
You say-”On the contrary, Walker. It shows another of the many reasons the nation’s founders warned against a huge centralized national government.”
I wish you guys that claim to know all about the founding fathers and history would actually do some research. The continental congress that enacted the constitution, repealed the Articles of Confederation because it threatened the United States as a country. The states were squabbling about their rights to the point that we needed a strong central government to unify us as a nation. That’s why they wrote our current constitution. Now they did argue about the degree of power that the central or federal government should have, but they understood its necessity.
They also wrote the preamble that you guys like to ignore that states among other things that the purpose of the constitution was to “promote the general welfare”. The tenth amendment that you all claim is violated by Medicare and Social Security doesn’t have precedence over the Preamble which precedes it (the tenth amendment) and health care certainly comes under the definition of general welfare. The fact that health insurance didn’t exist at that time does not preclude the federal government’s responsibility to reform it, or even do away with it altogether when it is in the best “interests of we the people”.