Jul 29
SHS and Blue Dogs have Obama over a barrel on health care reform
By Denise Ross
As one political observer put it to me, The Blue Dogs have never been so en vogue. I’m guessing they’re not so popular around 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, however.
The US House’s Blue Dog coalition of moderate/conservative Dems is now mentioned in most stories about the ongoing Capitol Hill healthcare reform debate. That’s because they have become the gatekeepers on any legislation. If they like it, it moves forward. If they don’t, it’s see ya later.
South Dakota’s own Stephanie Herseth Sandlin holds a key post in Blue Dog leadership, maker her bluer than blue I suppose. And today she’s delivering the bad news that what had just yesterday been proclaimed a “breakthrough” probably isn’t after all. So say the Blue Dogs.
Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., a co-chair of the centrist House Blue Dog Democrat Coalition, told reporters that the deal is being re-assessed because the Congressional Budget Office found it would only save $2 billion over 10 years.
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Herseth Sandlin said the independent commission “was the White House’s top priority, and we said at the time, ‘We’ll agree, but let’s see what the CBO score is before anything’s final.”
The CBO score “means we’ve got to go back and we’ve got to find more” savings, said Herseth Sandlin.
Isn’t it odd that the Blue Dogs seem to be the only ones on Capitol Hill saying, Hey, where are those cost savings again? Wasn’t this supposed to remedy our deficit woes? That’s been Obama’s central pitch, that health care reform is central to deficit reform. So what gives? Why isn’t everyone crunching the numbers?
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Rep. Herseth Sandlin and her Blue Dog buddies are really frustrating me. We didn’t elect a Democratic Party majority in Congress to get a weak health care reform. We wanted a strong public option to compete with private health insurance (and that competition will help keep insurance costs down). But the Blue Dogs are fighting us every step of the way.
I’ve voted for Rep. Herseth Sandlin in the past, but I didn’t vote for this.
As a newer SD resident, I’ve been surprised to find that Rep Sandlin, a Democrat who I voted for, apparently has no allegiance to the Democratic Party, and is instead beholden to the Blue Cross Coalition. A review of the contributions to Rep Sandlin reveals that she took more money from the Blue Dogs than any other group. Based on the actions of Ben Nelson and Max Baccus, it is apparent that the Blue Dogs are beholden to the Health Insurance industry. I didn’t vote for Rep Sandlin so she could pursue her own agenda, and that of the Blue Dogs. I will contribute to Democratic Candidates who plan to run in the upcoming primary against Rep Sandlin. Rep Sandlin does not support the public option, which is one of the reasons I voted Democratic, as far as I am concerned, she may as well be a Republican. I do not plan on supporting her in the future, even though I am a Democrat.