Gloria Borger
CNN Senior Political Analyst
The story so far: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does everything in her power to get health care reform passed by keeping her Democratic caucus together.
She keeps liberals by insisting on a public option. She works on fiscal moderates by re-jiggering it. She works on lowering the cost of the package. She pays for it by taxing millionaire couples, appealing to the class-warfare crowd.
And to keep the Catholic bishops (and their moderate allies) on board, she keeps severe restrictions on paying for abortion in the measure. The liberals, of course, threaten to bolt - but it remains in the final package.
This is not legislating; it's whack-a-mole.
The challenge is simply to try and keep your unruly team in line, and maybe pick up a stray vote or two from the opposition. If you succeed, it's not about bipartisanship. It's just salesmanship.
| Harry - Illinois |
November 12th, 2009 7:06 pm ET I think she should check into a mental hospital for a "full" examination. I think she is so out of touch, she don't know whether she is coming or going and can not decide where to go. Only to spend our taxpayers money on her luxury jet, just like the president. |
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| Annie Kate |
November 12th, 2009 7:14 pm ET Somebody needs to do something to fix the inability of Congress to agree on anything. If redistricting caused all this then maybe re-doing it back to what it was or what it should be (even if it reduces the number of Congressmen) might help. Otherwise we may never pass any legislation that helps people except for Congressional salary hikes. And right now for the little bit of completed legislation that is coming out of Congress, you all make too much – way too much. |
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