Calling the Next Play on Health Care

Lawmakers were all over the airwaves Sunday following the Senate's procedural vote on the health care overhaul bill -- and like the chamber's vote, the rhetoric and the predictions for going forward lined up along predictable partisan lines.
Senate Democrats cleared the first major hurdle in their efforts to retool the health care system Saturday night, voting to adopt a motion and begin debating an overhaul plan assembled by Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
The Senate voted along party lines, 60-39, to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed to the bill (HR 3590). It was the first of what will likely be several similar procedural votes that will have to be taken before the Senate can actually vote on passage of the measure.
Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said the Republicans' next goal is "to let the American people know what it does for them and to them, that it has higher premiums, higher taxes, Medicare cuts, puts 15 million more low-income Americans into a medical ghetto called Medicaid."
Alexander, who appeared on "Fox News Sunday," said once Americans become aware of the bill's onerous provisions, it "will collapse of its own weight. And we can get then started on going step by step toward reducing costs, which is what we've been trying to do ... And I think most people would be much more comfortable with us biting off what we could chew instead of this arrogance of thinking we can fix the whole system all at once."
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., appearing on the same program, was asked about certain lawmakers who voted yes Saturday but would vote against the bill on final passage if it contains provisions they cannot accept.
"We will keep working," she said. "We're working on a number of different options that will bring us together. And I believe at the end of the day we will be together because we know that we can't afford not to act, whether it's saving lives, saving money."
"Look, there are still many bumps in the road, discussions, arguments, disagreements. But I think, now, the wind is at our back. There's real momentum," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer on CBS's "Face the Nation," "... And now the time is to act. And, frankly, you know, there are a lot of people on the other side of the aisle who don't want health care. They haven't put together an alternative proposal that's out there on the Web the way our proposal is. And I think what Orrin Hatch [R-Utah] said is right. It's dilatory tactics."
Countering that argument on the same program was Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who said "the American people, by public opinion surveys, have made it very clear they want this whole thing aired out. They would rather have us do it right than do it quickly. ... The reality is this is a huge issue affecting every American. And we do need to do it right. And the object is not to delay for delay's sake but rather to have an opportunity for everyone to see what's in it, to understand it, to know how much it costs and to know how it's going to impact their lives."
Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," said Saturday night's party-line vote to begin debate on the bill was "an amazing victory" for President Obama and Reid.
"We didn't have a Republican vote, but we are going to move forward after Thanksgiving," Durbin said on NBC's "Meet the Press." He said the bill "must" pass this year and urged Republicans to work with Democrats and not engage in a "filibuster-loaded debate where we don't get down to the basic issues."
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said the "important thing is for the American people to understand that this bill doesn't fix what's wrong with health care. We're treating symptoms, not the disease, and it's really malpractice what we're doing."
The problem with U.S. health care, Coburn said on ABC's "This Week," "is that it costs too much... And there's nothing to address that. And one out of every three dollars that Americans spend today doesn't help anybody get well and doesn't keep anybody from getting sick. So why would we not want to go and fix the problems in health care, not the symptoms that all the politicians play around with, but the real problems?"