NewsLanc interviewed Kevin Zeese, Executive Director of ProsperityAgenda.US, concerning the current Senate version of the proposed Health Care bill.
According to Zeese, once it became apparent that a bi-partisan approach was not going to work, large parts of the health care reform should have been passed through the ‘Reconciliation Process ‘,a way to pass legislation that reconciles legislation with the budget. It prevents filibusters and permits a majority decision. Without ‘Reconciliation’, it takes 60 of the 100 senators for cloture to cut off debate and bring about a vote.
As examples of past ‘Reconciliation’ practices, Zeese pointed to Medicare reform and the George W. Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. He suggested that Medicare for all or the Public Option could have been enacted through ‘Reconciliation’.
When asked why President Barrack Obama had not used the Reconciliation cudgel, Zeese replied: “What came out of this process is what was intended from the beginning. All this talk about public option, Medicare buy-in for 55 and above, that was just to keep the Democratic voter base and left of center democrats involved.
“At the beginning of the process, before congress even touched it, President Obama held a summit at the White House and the first speaker was from the insurance industry and the last speaker was from the insurance industry. That was a clear omen that what we were going to have was an insurance industry based bill that would preserve the insurance industry.”
Zeese went on to say: “Real reform would recognize that the insurance industry is the problem, and not the solution. The most successful parts of US health care are Medicare and the Veterans Administration. They are the most popular and most successful. If we had built on the successes of US policy instead of the failure of US policy, which is the insurance industry, we would have had real reform.”
When asked what advice he would offer President Obama, Zeese urged:
“Start over. Say you tried to preserve the insurance industry and it didn’t work. Make Medicare for all the 2010 election year issue.”
Zeese continued: “It isn’t a case of Obama being weak; it is who he answers to. [Obama recognizes] corporate power can go anywhere but the Democrat voters can be taken for granted. There is no third choice. So the Democrats take the vote for granted and make sure they get the money.”
Zeese and several doctors met yesterday with Harry Reid’s staff. He noted “They are caught in a vice. They have no ability to make this dysfunctional Senate work. Theoretically, by playing ‘Reconciliation’ card’, the impasse could be broken in short order. But they won’t turn their back on corporate money.”
“The Democrats are in the correct side on every issue: Health care, energy, climate, banking ,and military budget. But they always put forward a corporate solution to protect the status quo and, as a result, it is not a solution.”
