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Pelosi Rejects President Snowe's Trigger Proposal

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Other Politics
Posted on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 12:38:58 PM EST
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Via FDL, The Hill reports:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday shot down a healthcare compromise that has been viewed as the best chance for getting a bipartisan bill through the Senate. . . . “I don't even want to talk about a trigger,” Pelosi said at her weekly press conference. She said the “attitude” of her fellow Democrats is that “a trigger is an excuse for not doing anything.”

Well done Madam Speaker.

Speaking for me only

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    Pelosi Rejects President Snowe's Trigger Proposal | 51 comments (51 topical)

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    Pelosi (5.00 / 7) (#1)
    by CST on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 12:41:15 PM EST
    Has been a shining light during this process.

    Well done indeed.  Let's hope she doesn't cave on the Co-Ops or exchanges.

    Yes, let's hope (5.00 / 6) (#8)
    by MO Blue on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:05:40 PM EST
    Let's hope she doesn't cave on the Co-Ops or exchanges.

    Because from the looks of things, the House may be the only thing that will prevent health care reform from being nothing but a gigantic insurance give away that does not provide real health care.

    Parent

    As a San Francisco resident ... (5.00 / 2) (#38)
    by Demi Moaned on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 04:13:52 PM EST
    of long standing, my opinion of Pelosi has gone way up this year after the huge disappointments of the previous Congress.

    Parent
    Do you predict she will stand firm? (none / 0) (#42)
    by oculus on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 05:03:21 PM EST


    Parent
    I make no predictions (none / 0) (#50)
    by Demi Moaned on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 11:05:37 PM EST
    But she seems to have been pretty consistent on this one. And she's generally so cautious.

    There may be some 11-dimensional chess going on with her working in concert with the WH.

    Parent

    Pelosi ain't stupid (5.00 / 2) (#2)
    by cawaltz on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 12:42:06 PM EST
    She wants to keep her job as majority leader. I'm not sure what Reid's problem is. Does anyone know why his name seems absent from the policy and you would expect Snowe to be the Senate Majority Leader in his place?

    I suspect Reid knows he is toast (none / 0) (#6)
    by scribe on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:04:43 PM EST
    come election time next year (and having been such a spineless wuss the last 4 years or so), and is looking more toward putting himself in good stead with lobbying firms in anticipation of moving out of offices in the Capitol and into a suite on K Street, with a concomitant raise in pay.

    Parent
    President Snowe vs. President Pelosi (5.00 / 5) (#3)
    by Faust on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 12:48:18 PM EST
    Obama enjoying popcorn.

    How do you account for Madame (5.00 / 3) (#4)
    by oculus on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 12:54:03 PM EST
    Speaker's newly-strengthened spine?  I like it but am curious.

    A better political nose than Rahm? (5.00 / 5) (#5)
    by andgarden on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:04:05 PM EST


    Parent
    Rahm's hunting her, and her job (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by scribe on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:05:12 PM EST
    and she intends to make a fight of it.

    Parent
    When Rahm gets fired he wants her job? :) (none / 0) (#46)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 07:11:32 PM EST
    Do you really think he's hunting her job?  If he is Obama had better lose Rahm.

    Parent
    13% tax on the base (5.00 / 4) (#9)
    by Stellaaa on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:06:07 PM EST
    is hard to justify if there is no effort to control costs, it's that simple.  She knows, if the darn thing passes, Dems are dead.  

    Parent
    Obama stance (5.00 / 2) (#10)
    by Stellaaa on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:09:41 PM EST
    I get a feeling that if the "monster" sucks, the Obama people will blame Congress, since they hatched it.  So much for party unity.  

    Parent
    One thing is for sure (5.00 / 4) (#13)
    by MO Blue on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:17:04 PM EST
    It won't be Obama's fault. The poor man tried but what could he do. I mean seriously, he only had a 60 seat majority in the Senate and a hugh majority in the House, but his hands were tied.:-)

    Parent
    Hey, he's busy on climate change. (5.00 / 1) (#16)
    by oculus on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:24:58 PM EST
    Give the Pres. a break already.

    Parent
    I can see the headlines on climate change now (5.00 / 5) (#20)
    by MO Blue on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:37:33 PM EST
    The poor man tried but what could he do. I mean seriously, he only had a 60 seat majority in the Senate and a hugh majority in the House, but his hands were tied.:-)

    Parent
    Well, as our Pres. sd. to UN, (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by oculus on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 02:05:11 PM EST
    don't be looking to U.S. to do everything in this world.  Come on people, help carry the load.  

    Parent
    and the world (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by Stellaaa on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 02:06:52 PM EST
    is not that happy....!! they wanted a real proposal, but all they got was "you guys do something".  

    Parent
    Forgetting U.S. is the major (5.00 / 2) (#25)
    by oculus on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 02:09:28 PM EST
    polluter which didn't sign the Kyoto agreement.

    Parent
    Which is esentially (5.00 / 1) (#49)
    by Zorba on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 07:45:16 PM EST
    what Obama said to Congress about health care reform- "You guys do something."  Are we sensing a pattern here?

    Parent
    Obama's Healthcare Fiasco (none / 0) (#45)
    by norris morris on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 06:15:22 PM EST
    Yup. I agree that Obama couldn't figure out how to sell his Healthcare Reform [bill?] as he only found a majority in both houses.

    So he decided to compromise before he even explained what exactly kind of bill he would back.  Naturally that's what you do when you are in the majority.  You let your political enemies explain your bill by bashing the PO and scaring the wits out of the seniors who are the hugest voting bloc.

    Also as a great orator and speechifier Obama felt it would be be best to dodge details, speak in generalities, and er, yes, not even talk about the PO unless he had to. This would give right wing senators like Baucus, and one republican named Snowe to write a lousy bill that screws all of us, but.......guess what?  Obama can coast on the fact that he is really bi-partisan.

    The  deals struck behind the scene in the White House with BigPharma and Insurance monopolies
    is brazen beyond comprehension.

    This insures that millions of new bodies will be delivered to the Insurance monopoly with no other choice available, courtesy of the sellout by Obama.


    Parent

    SEIU must be getting to her. (5.00 / 1) (#33)
    by oculus on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 02:45:37 PM EST


    Parent
    Whip Count (5.00 / 2) (#12)
    by waldenpond on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:16:51 PM EST
    Hopefully this is a sign of how the whip counts are going?

    Right (5.00 / 1) (#14)
    by MO Blue on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:18:00 PM EST
    The whip counts were due to be finished today.

    Parent
    Plumline had story that Grijalva (none / 0) (#19)
    by magster on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:36:24 PM EST
    indicated he still had plenty of support to hold firm on PO through conference.


    Parent
    Not a count (none / 0) (#21)
    by waldenpond on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:43:40 PM EST
    He stated others stood with him but not how many or how firmly.  It was a bunch of mush mouth.  Where's the count.  One previous report at FDL had only 17 that would not vote for a bill without a public option.  Not enough.  

    Parent
    Sweet breaking news (none / 0) (#41)
    by magster on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 04:42:35 PM EST
    House Blue Dogs won't kill PO.

    Your point is very valid on the CPC, but the division in the Blue Dog caucus, combined with a CBO report just highlighted on FDL about the cost savings of a public option tied to medicare reimbursement rates puts a lot of pressure on Blue Dogs to justify advocating against a PO.

    Parent

    what fdl post is that ? n/t (none / 0) (#43)
    by lilburro on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 05:06:23 PM EST


    Parent
    Clever move by supporters of public (none / 0) (#44)
    by MO Blue on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 05:11:07 PM EST
    option tied to Medicare in the House.

    The CBO has estimated that tying a public option to Medicare rates could save more than $80 billion over ten years in addition to what would be saved from the public option itself. During the caucus meeting, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chair of one of the committees to pass a health care bill, dangled that cash in front of members who want funds to address regional reimbursement disparities. HufPo


    Parent
    Rejected with extreme prejudice (5.00 / 2) (#24)
    by ruffian on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 02:07:30 PM EST
    "a trigger is an excuse for not doing anything."

    I like her style on this one. Plain speaking.

    Time will tell (5.00 / 3) (#32)
    by mmc9431 on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 02:37:50 PM EST
    I'd have more faith in Pelosi if I could forget that she said the same thing about the war funding. And then she caved.

    Another possibility is they're all just playing good cop-bad cop and it's Pelosi turn for good. After it's all done and Obama gets what he wants, all the players can say they did everything they could but....

    Pelosi didn't cave (5.00 / 1) (#37)
    by gyrfalcon on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 03:35:25 PM EST
    so much as her membership caved.  Let's be careful not to shoot the messenger, or credit the messenger with the great victory he/she goes on TV to annnounce.

    Parent
    well, (none / 0) (#35)
    by lilburro on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 02:50:33 PM EST
    it's not like Pelosi is more popular than Obama.  Associating support for the public option with The Mother of All Evil, or whatever they're calling her these days, is not a smart way to get people to think the public option is a good idea.

    UNLESS.  Pelosi only supported Obama so she could steal his super good idea and use it to burnish her own reputation!  How many dimensions is that?

    Parent

    This Way When They Pass the Crappy Co-Op (5.00 / 1) (#34)
    by BDB on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 02:47:49 PM EST
    or a watered down "public option" virtually none of the public can participate in it will look like a great victory for progressive courage instead of the craven play to corporate interests that it will, in fact, be.

    It's not so important that anyone bring change, what's important is maintaining the illusion that they are bringing change.  

    In that regard, nicely done, Madame Speaker.

    I can almost imagine respecting her (5.00 / 1) (#47)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 07:23:46 PM EST
    Not something I ever imagined would occur, but my crystal ball is still broken.  Perhaps BTD should call this the Special Presidential election between Pelosi and Snowe.  Too bad no dudes are brave enough to negotiate in the big leagues, big cowards....as usual.  Obama and Rahm have superseded the myths of my sex being the manipulative passive aggressive backstabbers.

    Pelosi's gone renegade! (none / 0) (#11)
    by lilburro on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:12:16 PM EST
    They must be having interesting conversations in the House these days.

    The CPC made her Speaker (5.00 / 7) (#15)
    by andgarden on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:18:01 PM EST
    and in principle, they can make her not Speaker. In order to have the same kind of impact, blue dogs would have to switch parties.

    Parent
    I was thinking along those lines (5.00 / 3) (#17)
    by lilburro on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:25:09 PM EST
    she is probably going to be summoned to the WH for a disciplinary meeting soon.  With Peter Orzag saying what he's saying I think there's simply no way she is acting for Obama here.  I hope she will continue doing what she's doing until the bill passes.

    Parent
    Andgarden nails it (none / 0) (#18)
    by shoephone on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 01:29:34 PM EST


    Parent
    So where are we on the theory (none / 0) (#26)
    by gyrfalcon on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 02:11:52 PM EST
    articulated here the other day that Pelosi takes her marching orders from Obama?  Either she doesn't (and is mightily regretting her support during the primaries right now), or she is doing what Obama wants her to do and O is actually playing that 11-dimensional chess.

    My bet is and has always been that she's an independent actor here, but even the faint possibility she's taking orders from The One raises some intriguing fantasies.

    I don't think Obama gives orders (5.00 / 6) (#28)
    by Anne on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 02:26:30 PM EST
    as much as he gives suggestions, and registers preferences...or at least that's how he seems to be messaging his way through this excruciating process.

    Maybe you would disagree, but I think there are so few people playing this for real that it is an exercise in futility trying to figure out why people are saying and doing whatever it is they are saying and doing, and which changes from day to day.

    Pelosi's been pretty consistent, except for that little blip a couple of weeks ago, just before we all found out that a big industry lobbyist was having a fundraiser for her at his home.

    Maybe she will be like the lone holdout in Twelve Angry Men: she'll be the only member of the leadership who holds fast to a position and manages to sway everyone else over to her side...well, maybe it won't be quite that dramatic, but she does present a contrast to the wavering, wobbling, say-it-today-walk-it-back-tomorrow, WORMing, craven, too-oblivious-to-even-have-a-Homer-Simpson-D'OH!-moment Democrats who are also "working" on the issue.

    Parent

    I think you're pretty close to the truth (none / 0) (#31)
    by Inspector Gadget on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 02:35:51 PM EST
    he gives suggestions, and registers preferences

    but, maybe a bit generous. I think he might toss out a question that looks like a suggestion, but recoils if he gets shot down as unreasonable.

    "what if" is possibly a very common opening around the table.

    Parent

    Good cop bad cop (5.00 / 1) (#29)
    by Stellaaa on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 02:32:10 PM EST
    If I was totally cynical maybe Pelosi, is showing the colors to the Labor.  Maybe they said, Ok Nancy, you as a Dem leader, stick up for labor, we will be the pragmatists.  If i was cynical.  But I will not be and hope that Nacny really is standing up for this issue.  

    Parent
    There is no way (5.00 / 3) (#30)
    by lilburro on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 02:34:43 PM EST
    there is 11 dimensional chess.  Like I said above, the Orzag interview BTD wrote about made that clear to me.  They are geared toward passing anything, including BaucusCare.  And if they were planning to sneak in the public option during conference they could do a better set up job.  When your budget director says the public option doesn't matter - and that other stuff not only could work, but DOES - you're not going into negotiation with a strong hand.

    Parent
    That's what I think (5.00 / 1) (#36)
    by gyrfalcon on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 03:34:03 PM EST
    but what do I know.  There have been an awful, awful lot of suggestions and theories and assertions that everything is a great big plot on the part of the Dem. power structure to sink meaningful health care reform in order to enrich the insurance companies, but the whole business has seemed so chaotic to me that I have a hard time believing there's any driving force here at all.  If there is one, it's flat-out incompetent anyway.

    Parent
    3rd possibility (none / 0) (#27)
    by CST on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 02:16:22 PM EST
    Is that Obama is actually a passive player in all this.  That's where I would put my money.  He is neither for nor against Pelosi, who is an independant actor - which might have been what she was going for back in the primaries as well.

    Parent
    Public option is a done deal (none / 0) (#39)
    by s5 on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 04:15:57 PM EST
    As long as House progressives hold firm, which they are, Pelosi will continue to reflect the reality that a bill without a public option can't pass the House. I believe that Pelosi isn't making her own demands; she's more reflecting back the prevailing mood of her caucus. If she collapses, then it means her caucus collapsed too.

    As for the Senate, Reid just wants to pass a bill, any bill, and if the only bill that will pass the House contains a public option, he will find a way to pass it over the objections of Ayatollah Snowe. There's no way Reid is going to let the bill die. He won't fight for the public option in particular but he will fight for a bill, any bill, to pass. If the only bill that can pass both houses contains a public option, then he will fight for it. If the House is wishy-washy on the public option, then he will not fight for it. Ergo, the fate of the public option rests on House progressives.

    I've said this before and I'll say it again. This is an existential battle for House progressives. If they hold firm and pass the public option, then they'll have permanent power in Congress, and the ability to shape legislation for years to come. If they cave and join the "any bill" caucus, then they may as well quit Congress because no one will take them seriously ever again.

    So very true (none / 0) (#40)
    by MO Blue on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 04:22:59 PM EST
    If they hold firm and pass the public option, then they'll have permanent power in Congress, and the ability to shape legislation for years to come. If they cave and join the "any bill" caucus, then they may as well quit Congress because no one will take them seriously ever again.



    Parent
    It's really sad reading mcjoan's diary (none / 0) (#48)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 07:37:11 PM EST
    on this.  It is almost as if dkos participants cannot and will not grasp that the White House and the blessed Obama have been the one wielding the monkey wrench.

    Dream World (none / 0) (#51)
    by mmc9431 on Fri Sep 25, 2009 at 06:35:28 AM EST
    After spending all that time and energy to promote Obama as the progressive champion, some will do or say anything to try and justify their faith. Reality isn't always easy to face.

    Parent
    Pelosi Rejects President Snowe's Trigger Proposal | 51 comments (51 topical)

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