Speaker Pelosi, Clyburn Admit Health Care "Deal" With Blue Dog Dems is Really No Deal at All

MONDAY, FEB 8, 2010

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TUESDAY, FEB 9, 2010

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THURSDAY, FEB 11, 2010

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FRIDAY, FEB 12, 2010

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Leader Alert

Speaker Pelosi, Clyburn Admit Health Care "Deal" With Blue Dog Dems is Really No Deal at All

Washington, Jul 30, 2009 - As the Associated Press reported, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) warned that rank-and-file Democrats who support a government takeover of health care are “likely to have a very, very hot summer.” Today Democratic leaders – Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) & Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) – did nothing to dispel that, saying the “deal” cut yesterday with four Blue Dog Democrats is no deal at all beyond the Energy & Commerce Committee markup, saying it was intended only move the bill through the panel and would be altered when it’s combined with the two other portions of the bill.

In her weekly press briefing, Speaker Pelosi pointedly gave no promises to Blue Dogs:

“I don’t think there was any deal with Chairman Waxman. I think there was an agreement as to how the committee would proceed. … But I remind you that this is one piece of a tri-committee process that we have here and two committees in the United States Senate.” – Press Briefing, July 30, 2009

And in an ABC News story titled “‘Absolutely No Idea’ If Concessions to Blue Dogs Will Survive,” Whip Clyburn admits the “deal” may not survive at all:

“Yet [Clyburn] said he could not guarantee that the concessions negotiated into that bill by conservative ‘Blue Dog’ Democrats would survive in a final product.”

“‘We have absolutely no idea,’ Clyburn, D-S.C., told me and ABC’s Jonathan Karl.

…

“‘I don’t think that anyone can guarantee what the final document is going to be,’ Clyburn continued. ‘The fact of the matter is when you’re doing legislation, you’ve got to take into account the districts that are being represented by Blue Dogs. But look: The Blue Dogs -- we have some Congressional Black Caucus members, some Hispanic members, and their concerns have to be dealt with, too.’”

“‘So this whole thing about the one group getting all of what it wants to the expense of the other group –- that’s not the way things work,’ Clyburn said. ‘Things work with us trying to find common ground, trying to find a happy medium. And that’s what we’re trying to do here. So if you think any kind of deal will be exactly like you wanted it when it gets lined up with the other two committees -– that just ain’t the way the world works.’”

The irony is that while the Speaker and Democratic Whip admit this “deal” with four Blue Dog Democrats isn’t going to hold, the “deal” that was struck turns out to be not much of a “deal” at all for the American people. It kept a so-called government option, a job-killing employer mandate and a job-killing small business tax, as well as provisions establishing a government czar to make medical decisions that should only be made by patients and their doctors, gutting Medicaid, and slashing Medicare for millions of seniors, particularly in rural America.

Polls show that Americans are opposed to the Democrats’ government takeover of health care. As Congress prepares to leave Washington for the August break, Democrats are about to see that opposition firsthand when they return back to their congressional districts. The American people support real health care reform – a plan that reduces costs and expands access to quality care. The Democrats’ proposal does neither. And unless Democratic leaders agree to work with Republicans on a bipartisan plan that achieves real reform that Americans are seeking, it will be a long, hot August for Democrats in Congress.

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HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner