Members of the Senate Finance Committee Voted to Keep Details of their Health Care Proposal out of the Public Eye
Promises of a more open and transparent government must not apply to the United States Senate. The health care reform package being hashed out in the finance committee won’t be made public in its entirety. Senators on the committee voted against posting the actual language of the plan on the internet, opting instead to post a short summary. The reason? We’d only be confused if we simple people tried to read and comprehend the mighty documents being wrought by our incredibly superior elected officials.
It was Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning who proposed requiring the final legislative language of the bill that emerges from the finance committee be posted online for at least 72 hours before any vote on it. His amendment would have also required a final cost analysis from the congressional budget office be posted with the bill.
“It’s the most important bill I’ve seen in 24 years,” Bunning said. We the People want to know what our legislators are up to. Bunning said Americans seeking the details should be able to see the entire bill.
It took a while for Americans to read and digest the 1000 page House health care bill (HR3200), but we understood it. The problem was many of us didn’t like what we saw.
The details of the House bill drew unwelcome questions and criticism. Could that be what senators are now trying to avoid or should we simply take them at their word that they think the American people are too stupid to comprehend the legislation? With the White House and congressional leaders insisting that they will pass health care reform on a deadline, the former seems more likely, but the sheer arrogance of senators claiming we’d just be confused by the bill is truly breathtaking.
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D – MI) said, “Reading this bill will only confuse people,” and Senator John Kerry (D – MA) dismissed the notion of public scrutiny, saying, “let’s be honest about it. Most people don’t read the legislative language.” He characterized the effort to give the public time to see and weigh-in on the bill as a “Republican delay tactic” designed to avoid passing health care reform.
It seems that the major concern of congressional leaders is an October 15th deadline for budget reconciliation. That’s a process that would limit debate and allow a vote on the bill without being subject to a filibuster. If delays for scrutiny, transparency and cautious deliberation are permitted, bi-partisan support may be needed to pass health care reform – that, it seems is unacceptable to congressional leaders.
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