How Congress Will Get Its Groove Back

This was inevitable, I'm just surprised it's coming out so early. After running the last eight years as a virtual dictatorship, and vesting virtually all power in the executive branch, Democrats - not Republicans, but DEMOCRATS - are signaling that an incoming Democratic President won't get a free hand, particularly on the issue where there's been the most discussion on the campaign trail - health care.

Congressional Democrats are backing away from healthcare reform promises made by their two presidential candidates, saying that even if their party controls the White House and Congress, sweeping change will be difficult.

It is still seven months before Election Day, but already senior Democrats are maneuvering to lower public expectations on the key policy issue [...]

For some senators, the promises made by Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) outside of Washington may not match the political reality on Capitol Hill.

“We all know there is not enough money to do all this stuff,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), a Finance Committee member and an Obama supporter, referring to the presidential candidates’ healthcare plans. “What they are doing is … laying out their ambitions.”

Except that it's actually costlier in terms of lives and lost productivity to not have a universal coverage standard. Also, when you leave insurance coverage to the vicissitudes of the market, you get situations like we're in now, where health insurers are losing customers because nobody can afford their crappy healthcare, and if they made it less crappy they wouldn't be able to afford the cost of treatment. So what there's not enough money to do, Jello Jay, is sustain a broken system.

But aside from the policy concerns, this is the key quote:

"I hear on the campaign trail, 'This is what I'm going to do,' as if there is not a Congress here with feelings and experience on this issue," Meek said. "I think it's important that everyone takes that into consideration and that this is not a kingdom, this is a democracy."

Oh really? This isn't a kingdom? Funny. I thought that considering the executive keeps us in an endless, unpopular occupation, spies on Americans without a warrant, commits torture and extraordinary rendition and indefinite detention, and is never held accountable for it by the federally elected legislature, I thought it WAS a kingdom, and the Congress was chosen just for show. I must have gotten that wrong.

Or rather, I got it right, but only during the times when there's a Democratic President pushing progressive solutions. When ending the war is on the table we "don't have the votes" and simply must give the President what he wants. When the subject is providing health care to every American as a right and not a privilege, Congress must be CONSULTED, CONSULTED I tell you, and we must worry about budget constraints and we must find the money! Look, we all know that the off-budget Iraq appropriations are far greater than the contribution to any universal health care plans would be as a down payments, and if it's done right the costs would decrease over time, due to preventive care and not having to cover emergency room fees with a hidden tax.

On top of it, this is just MISERABLE politics. You've set up this system where the executive gets a blank check for two terms, and now with a Democratic President you'd pull back on one of their highest policy priorities? This would lead to the inevitable landslide of "weak President" exposes and Adam Nagourney thumbsuckers, and Democrats in Congress would strut around like tough guys for having defied their leader. Republican leaders would need only snicker as Democrats do the heavy lifting for them. And by signaling this NOW, it undermines the Presidential campaign of the eventual nominee in a big way.

After all this, Congress is going to find its spine and reassert its priorities over HEALTH CARE. Jeebus. Sometimes I feel like these lawmakers don't deserve the majority. They clearly have no idea how to use it.

...I should say that on areas where the nominee and top Democrats agree, we're going to get changes in policy. We'll see SCHIP fully funded, and things like the Lily Ledbetter Equal Pay Act, which was successfully filibustered yesterday in Congress, will get through if we flip a couple Senate seats. But broadly speaking, Congress is signaling that the balance of power will shift over to them, after eight years of a unitary executive. Amusing how they finally found their assertive streak just in time for a Democratic President, isn't it?