Well, let's give him some credit. Sen. Max Baucus, author of the middling, middle-ground health-care bill currently satisfying no one and confusing everyone, at least gives the opposition credit for having valid points. It is a step up from the Obama administration's and Democrats' summer efforts to discredit anyone who criticized the big-government vision of Obamacare. But while Baucus believes your thoughts are interesting, they just don't matter:
Sen. Max Baucus, who chairs the Finance Committee, and is anxious to pass a bill on to the Senate floor as soon as possible so that Democrats can enact health reform this year, cut off Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz, the number two Republican in the Senate, accusing him of delaying and called for a vote on an amendment - one of more than 500 that have been offered to the bill - after 45 minutes of debate. "I am not delaying. I am making an extremely important point," Kyl shot back. "I don't dispute that it is a good point, but it's also delaying," said Baucus. This went on for another fifteen minutes until the amendment was defeated on a party line vote.
Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee rejected an amendment put forth by Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY.) and supported by the moderate Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), which would have required full Congressional Budget Office scoring of the bill before it was voted out of committee. Liberals deemed this an unconscionable delay despite the fact that the CBO has been a more consistent and reliable source of good information about health-care bills than the President, Congress, or any of the bill's allies. Hey, the CBO might have good points, but they're also delaying, what with all that scientific analysis of the proposed overhaul of the entire health-care system. Instead, the committee agreed to wait for preliminary CBO scores before voting. Well, thanks for that, guys. In other My-God-They-Need-an-Amendment-for-That?!? News, the Finance Committee also rejected an amendment that would have required them to have final language for the massive bill in hand before voting it out of committee:
It may sound strange to the rest of America: The Finance Committee has not seen the legislative language of the $900 billion health care reform bill. No, they use "conceptual" language, which is far easier to read than the arcane legi-speak of most bills. After the committee votes, the staff translates the mark into legislative language. But Republicans, who have been hot on the idea this year that lawmakers should know what they are voting on, are pressing for the committee to adopt an amendment Wednesday requiring that the legislative language and a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office to be posted on the Internet for 72 hours before voting. "This probably sounds a little crazy to some people that we are voting on something before we have seen legislative language," said Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), who introduced the amendment. "The way legislative language is written, you can have a large impact on the way the policies are implemented."
Baucus' defense: Hey, they'll have another two weeks before we vote on it in the full Senate. No biggie. They'll get the language eventually. And, John Kerry lends credence to our skepticism of government in his own, very special way: "Let's be honest about it, most people don't read the legislative language." After all, we wouldn't want to delay the bill's passage with any unnecessary knowledge of the bill's contents. Update: Why does Nancy Pelosi insist on delaying this process?!?