Max Baucus & The Deficit

Max Baucus is a Democratic Senator from Montana.  He’s been making noise in the past year about wanting to control our deficits, while telling the American people that health care reform measures would have to be paid for with money from other policies.  He had a quote lately about unemployment insurance.  Some folks have been out of work and unable to find a new job for a very long time.  Currently, unemployment insurance runs out after 99 weeks.  Congress did a poor job in the past year or so extending those benefit payments for more weeks than was “normal” in the 2000s.  It seems Sen. Baucus doesn’t think unemployment insurance payments should extend beyond the current 99 weeks they’re available:

“You can’t go on forever,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, of Montana, whose panel oversees the benefits program. “I think 99 weeks is sufficient,” he said.

Really, Sen. Baucus?  That’s an interesting position to take, given his record on the invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.  Both were not subjected to the same budget constraints that Sen. Baucus wants to apply to unemployment insurance: there was no requirement that they be paid for so that the deficit wouldn’t increase.  The occupation of Iraq has lasted over 370 weeks.  Where is Sen. Baucus’ “99 weeks” limit?  The occupation of Afghanistan has lasted over 445 weeks.  Where is Sen. Baucus’ “99 weeks” limit?

No the, 99 weeks limit only applies to American workers who through no fault of their own find themselves out of work and unable to be hired for a new one.  They are not providing for their families, their communities or their country.

But the off-budget, deficit-busting occupations of two countries can last forever, as long as Sen. Baucus cares.

It’s good to know what his priorities are.

Bought-off Baucus, Health Care & Elections

Sen. Max Baucus has raised the ire of millions of progressives around the country by consistently standing in the way of single-payer health care during discussions of health care reform in the 111th Congress.  He has steadily worked to implement the around-the-edge tweaks that Big Insurance and Big Pharma want – not the deep top-to-bottom revolution that our health care system requires.  He excluded every single-payer advocate from the initial discussions with representatives from every industry interest group and fellow Senators.  He sent a staffer to town-hall meetings in Montana to solicit his constituents’ opinions – which went overwhelmingly against the current system and in which strong majorities expressed interest for a public health care system to at least compete with private insurance.  Not only were his constituents against the system the staffer was sent to talk about, they were justifiably upset that their own Senator didn’t show up for his own town-hall meetings.

These actions are signs that Sen. Max Baucus has been bought off by the health care industry.  He isn’t listening to his constituents – many of whom worked to get him reelected last year – which is even harder to do when he won’t show up to talk with them directly now that his job is safe for the next six years.  And there’s the crux of the problem.  Montanans and other interested citizens need to get in touch with Baucus’ office and make it quite clear that removing options from the table at the beginning of a discussion is bad politics.  I’m sure many Montanans realize, just like I do, that single-payer wouldn’t get passed by Congress this year even if it weren’t preemptively excluded.  That’s beside the point.  The point is Americans are making their demands for real health care reform known and Baucus and other ConservaDems are pointedly ignoring them.  They do so at their own peril.

As I mentioned, Sen. Baucus was reelected last year, so threatening his job is nearly pointless this early in his current term – 2014 is a long way off.  Rest assured, however, that by 2014, we’ll have a very good idea of how well his legislation is working to revolutionize health care in the U.S.  People, including myself, will not easily forget his involvement with whatever happens.  So what’s left?  Well, electing more populist Democrats in Montana would help put pressure on federal level policymaking.  I recognize that that process is slow.  Interested progressives can also keep an eye on the remainder of the Senators on the committee of interest, the Senate Finance Committee.  Their reelection dates will be important, especially if they are in 2010.

Speaking only for myself – I will not only not support Democrats like Max Baucus who prefer to represent industries at the expense of people, I will begin supporting their opponents in the future.*  I don’t care if they’re other Democrats or if they’re Republicans.  Democrats that don’t do the job they were sent to Congress to do, especially when that job is so clearly defined, do not need their jobs.

* I realize the reelect numbers of incumbent Senators – it’s very difficult to get them out of office once they’re in.  Supporting their opponents will only be part of the effort I make in the future to remove them.

Health Care Is A Right

I heard about single-payer advocates being arrested at a Senate Finance Committee meeting on the Ed Schultz show today.  What happened?  The Senate Finance Committee was holding a “roundtable discussion” on healthcare access and coverage.  What interest group didn’t get a formal invitation?  Single-payer advocates.  Not one person who could argue in favor of a healthcare system that a majority of Americans want was invited.  Tragically, yet unsurprisingly, the insurance and pharmaceutical industries hold sway over Sen. Max Baucus (bought-MT) and his fellow committee members.

A group of single-payer advocates came to the meeting and had the temerity to ask why it wasn’t being discussed. It was shocking to hear that they were arrested. It was even more shocking to hear that Sen. Baucus and some of his preferred guests were joking about the situation as the arrestees were being taken away. It is disturbing, to say the least, to see how the powerful and elite (with excellent health care plans!) so easily treat the rest of us in so callous a manner.

I’m going to make my opinion on this subject as crystal clear as possible: I don’t think the populist energy that propelled Barack Obama and Democrats at all levels of government across the U.S. in 2008 was about Cons vs. Dems.  It was about carrying out the will of the American people, regardless of who is “in charge”.  That populist energy can be directed just as easily at Democrats as it was at Republicans.  I prefer Democrats to Republicans in most instances.  But I will refuse to support anybody who stands in the way of protecting the American middle- and lower-class, regardless of the letter after their name.

Sen. Max Baucus is now firmly on that list.  Democrats in the Colorado legislature who refused to suport single-payer health care are on that list.  I’m close to putting Gov. Ritter on that list.  Politicians have stood in the way of single-payer despite campaigning on reforming healthcare in Colorado in 2006 and 2008.  Politicians have killed single-payer bills despite launching a Commission to “listen” to Coloradans’ opinions on what they wanted out of a reformed system – and receiving overwhelming response for single-payer plans.  Their response (actions) is in direct contradiction to the opinions and solutions offered by the citizenry and in direct contradiction to what they told us during campaigns (words).  The limited actions taken so far in Colorado do not go far enough.  The system is not being reformed – it is being tinkered with at the edges.

I am fed up with “listening tours” regarding health care.  Elected officials at all levels know what the people want.  The tours act as props to show citizens that they “care” about the issue.  Enough is enough: no more “listening tours” – only action will be acceptable at this point.  If elected officials can’t publicly, proudly support the creation of a single-payer system, whether it’s in Colorado or in the entire U.S., I can not and will not support them any longer.  I will not listen to the excuse-of-the-day that politician after politician come up with and try to offer to us as the “reason” single-payer cannot be enacted, as though the politicians were actually serious about representing our interests.  It is clear too many of the current crop are not.

Pro-industry syncophants are about the only ones who continue to support our broken healthcare system.

It is immorally disgraceful that millions of Americans are unable to receive the care they deserve because of the greed locked into the healthcare management apparatus.

It is immorally disgraceful that for-profit corporations get to decide who gets covered for what procedure, despite health care costs that have risen faster than inflation for over a decade, despite the number of people who have died from lack of proper care.

It is obscene that the system wants to push expensive, unneeded technologies and treatments at consumers.  It only maintains their increasing profit margins.

It is an embarrassment that this great nation refuses to officially treat healthcare as a right, and not a privilege.

It is sickening to hear that Sen. Baucus won’t allow a single-payer proponent at a roundtable discussion in one sentence, then hear about the pittance that he has received from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries in campaign contributions.  Money may go further in Montana than other places in this country, but a few tens of thousands of dollars is a joke of a haul to take while preventing the healthcare reform that Montanans and Americans have clearly indicated they want.

2000 through and 2006 was about more Democrats for me.  After the 2006 elections, it became clear than quality is more important than quantity.  Leading up to the 2008 election, I started to focus more on better Democrats.  2010 and beyond will be all about better Democrats.  They’ve been given control of running this state and this country.  They campaigned on issues.  They promised supporters they would deliver on any number of things.  It’s time to deliver or find a new job.  Populist energy isn’t blinded by party loyalty.  Democrats would do well to remember that.

Cross-posted at SquareState.

Health Care Reform in 2009?

Sen. Max Baucus (D-N.D) has put out a white paper proposing substantial health care reform next year as part of the 111th Congress. While not a piece of legislation (yet), Baucus’ proposal is important because he is the Senate Finance Committee Chairperson. That means Baucus controls a substantial portion of money that Congress appropriates every year. If he is putting forth the beginning of a serious health care reform plan, that means it’s likely Americans will see changes after next year. It’s also worth noting that Baucus is a pro-corporate DLC-type Democrat. This white paper is an amazing piece of progress for such a Senator. It’s not single-payer, but it’s actually a little more comprehensive than what Sen. Obama was proposing on the campaign trail.