Posted on http://www.truthdig.com/ June 24, 2009
Sen. Max Baucus’ Finance Committee is thought to be the best bet for a bipartisan bill. The senator has raised close to $2 million this election cycle from the health sector, according to OpenSecrets.
By Joe Conason
If Congress fails to enact health care reform this year—or if it enacts a sham reform designed to bail out corporate medicine while excluding the “public option”—then the public will rightly blame Democrats, who have no excuse for failure except their own cowardice and corruption. The punishment inflicted by angry voters is likely to be reduced majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives—or even the restoration of Republican rule on Capitol Hill.
Many of those now talking down President Obama’s health care initiative were in Washington back in 1994 when Bill Clinton’s proposals to achieve universal coverage were killed by members of the president’s own party. The Democrats lost control of Congress that November in a historic repudiation, largely because of public disillusionment with their policy failures.
Read complete article at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090624_the_sickening_addiction_that_may_kill_reform/
Joe Conason writes for The New York Observer.
© 2009 Creators Syndicate Inc.
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