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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: michael97123 who wrote (15389)	11/6/2003 9:56:16 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793832

"Drugs on the Rocks." Looks like Medicare changes will now be a campaign issue. "The Hill" ___________________________________________ GOP shapes a Medicare exit strategy By Bob Cusack With Medicare reform marooned on the rocks, Republican lawmakers are crafting a legislative and public relations strategy to fend off Democratic attacks. The game plan reflects their realization that chances of a Medicare breakthrough are all but exhausted this year. Aides say a possible GOP approach will be to move a partisan Medicare conference report through the House and Senate. Under that scheme, the House would pass the bill mostly along party lines. Republicans would then try to ram it though the Senate. If a bipartisan deal is not reached soon, Democratic and GOP aides are predicting the Medicare debate will turn extremely nasty in the next couple of weeks. “The next week could get ugly,” a congressional aide said. A House GOP aide said Republicans are already whipping the Medicare bill vote – even though a conference report has yet to be finalized. “It has already started,” the aide said. Another source said House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) have directed staffers working on the bill to finish by Tuesday. Under that timetable, the bill summaries would be ready by the end of next week. The preliminary plan calls for a vote on a conference report the week of Nov. 17, the source said. Republicans recognize that Senate Democrats have the votes to block a Medicare bill drawn on partisan lines. But such a strategy would enable them to blame the Democratic minority for blocking seniors’ access to prescription drugs. A possible obstacle to this emerging plan is Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). He has worked closely with Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on prescription drug coverage and may balk at signing off on a report that Baucus opposes. Several observers note that Grassley has a better working relationship with Baucus than he does with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.). Grassley and Thomas have clashed repeatedly this year on issue ranging from rural healthcare to ethanol taxes. “With all things equal, who do you think Grassley would rather side with?” a healthcare lobbyist said. The Republican aide said, “I think Grassley and Baucus are married [on Medicare reform].” A source close to Grassley last week pointed out that a key reason the Senate passed a bill was a joint effort by Grassley and Baucus. A majority of conferees in the House and Senate must support a conference report before both chambers can vote on it. In the Senate, there are nine conferees, including Grassley. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) yesterday addressed the possibility that Grassley may not go along with a partisan conference report. “I think Senator Grassley has done a great job of insisting on the importance of these bipartisan principles. …The impression I have is that it’s largely being driven by the leadership in the House and Senate. I think there’s a real question of whether it can get out of conference,” he said. If the Grassley-Baucus alliance holds, there could be a replay of House Republicans publicly blasting Grassley. Earlier this year, House GOP leaders lambasted the Iowa senator for not pushing for a larger tax cut. The other wild card is Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), a Medicare conferee who regularly sides with Republicans on healthcare issues. Democratic lobbyists said that despite his voting history, Breaux would not cast the tiebreaking vote to move the bill out of conference. Republican aides said they are well aware that the stakes on prescription drug coverage are high. “We know they [Democrats] will blame [Republicans] for not getting a Medicare bill done because we have [control of] Congress and the White House,” a Senate aide said. What Republicans need to do is show that a bill could be forged if Democrats agreed to cooperate, GOP aides said. Meanwhile, Democrats are claiming that contrary to GOP assertions, the support of House conservatives is not essential to moving a drug bill to President Bush’s desk. A congressional source said Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has told Thomas he will lobby House Democrats to vote for a Medicare bill – but only if excludes the premium support provisions. Jim Manley, a Kennedy spokesman, said the senator believes a bill can collect significant support among House Democrats. He added that Kennedy is against several parts of the House bill, such as premium support and a cost-containment mechanism. In the next couple of weeks, Democrats are expected to repeatedly say that although a Medicare bill could pass both chambers, House Republicans are not interested in moving legislation that attracts significant support from House Democrats. “That’s not Thomas’s style,” a consumer advocate said. Christin Tinsworth, spokeswoman for the House Ways and Means Committee, said the premium support provisions are an important part of sustaining a Medicare system that is on very shaky financial ground. However, the 2002 House Republican prescription drug bill did not include the premium support language — setting up private plans that would compete with traditional Medicare. Tinsworth noted that the House has passed Medicare reform bills three times and argued that the 2003 bill is the most efficient because it is the culmination of legislation that has been worked on since 2000. thehill.com