Garden State Patriot

Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers and Rep. John Shadegg just wrapped up a conference call with bloggers on healthcare. Coming away from the call, I can’t help be very anxious and apprehensive about what is going on in Congress. The news right now is sobering to say the least.

While the Democrats still face some obstacles in the House – about 30 Democrats will not vote for a public option while 57 will not vote for a bill without it – Congressman Shadegg said in no uncertain terms that “this bill will pass…unless the American people rise up again like they did in August…and say ‘NO.’”

Here are some specifics from the call:

Congressman Shadegg took aim at the Baucus bill in the Senate which has a price tag of $829B. The Baucus bill would raise taxes starting in 2010 while healthcare services would not change until 2013. As such, the CBO scoring of the Baucus bill is completely flawed. It’s numbers are based on 10 years of revenue but only 7 years of benefits.

Additionally, Congressman Shadegg pointed to some of the shenanigans that are going on in the Senate - calling it a ‘Soviet Gulag style’ of politics.

For instance, Harry Reid (who is in trouble in Nevada) is using his position to have the federal government pick up that state’s share of its Medicare expenses. To cover himself on this, 3 other states (blue states mind you) will receive the same exception. So, the rest of the states would still have to subsidize Medicare, while Nevada will not in order to boost Reid’s chances of re-election.

Senator Schumer is also using his power to thwart a luxury tax on so-called Gold-plated insurance plans. The bill calls for a tax on anyone with a plan of $21k or more. Schumer has included language that would raise this threshold to $24k in New York (in Masssachusetts it would be $25k).

Senators Stabenow and Kerry have inserted language that would provide $5B to underwrite policies for unions.

And Senator Menendez - ah, yes, our very own - is pushing for $1B in tax credits for R&D work for the pharma companies.

I also had a chance to ask both Representatives about Harry Reid’s scheme to attach a Senate bill to a House bill that has nothing to do with healthcare. they provided some interesting responses. First off,  Rep. McMorris-Rodgers said that the Republicans could “make the majority’s life difficult” and “grind this place to a halt” if the Democrats attempted such a maneuver. Secondly – and this gets a bit technical – there is the question of whether the bill is treated as a tax bill or not, which would impact what Republicans in the House could do. Congressman Shadegg said quite emphatically, “Our procedural rights are stunningly limited.” Because of the way Pelosi is running the House, the minority has been virtually shut out. They might not be allowed to propose amendments or motions to recommit the bill.

Representative McMorris-Rodgers pointed out that the Republicans have stood firm against both the stimulus bill and now the healthcare bills. The only bi-partisanship has been in opposition to the bills in the house committees. Note: 3 House committees have passed bills.

At the end of the day, Congressman Shadegg made it clear: “This bill will destroy the healthcare you have now.” He said, “Within 5 years every policy in America must meet the criteria in the bill.” He also said he actually hoped Pelosi would bring a bill to the floor before the Senate and that, hopefully, with public pressure and not enough votes, she would have to pull it. This, in turn, would send a signal to those in the Senate now considering voting in favor of a bill. If this were to happen, he said the Senate would “back away…and run like scared mice.”

But it is worth repeating: Congressman McMorris-Rodgers and Congressman Shadegg are now looking to us to put the same kind of pressure on our legislators that we did back in August. If we want to stop this, then we have no choice.

{UPDATE: Here is the audio link of the call. I come in at the 13:30 mark}

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!