From the coverage I am reading, this is the crux of the problem:
Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), speaking for the Republicans, said, "We want you to succeed, because if you succeed, our country succeeds." But he said Republicans want to "change the direction" that Obama is pursuing, scuttle the bills already passed by the House and Senate and aim for less ambitious reforms.
"This is a car that can't be recalled and fixed," Alexander said of the legislation, "and we have to start over."
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If you are negotiating a document with someone and all they can say is, tear up the proposed draft, start from scratch and do nothing beyond our suggested incremental moves, then a negotiation over a broad plan is moot.
If nothing else, today made clear what the Reps are for and what the Dems are for. In other democracies, parties decide what they are for then try to get that passed. The voters put them there to do that.
I hope that after today, this "scrap it all and start over at our lowest common denominator" goes to the scrap heap itself. It's not how governments tackle major problems.
Imagine if we had tackled civil rights like that.
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Republicans reject mandating the purchase of insurance and have advanced an alternative that would cover 3 million people at a cost of $61 billion.
Obama asked Republicans to say whether they wanted to cover more people and, if so, to explain how they would do so. He observed that he did not get an answer. |
