Sen. Al Franken (D-MN)
at a press conference in Kabul,
Afghanistan, Jan. 13, 2010
(AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)
Our neighbor from Minnesota Senator Al Franken is working to pass some form of health care reform. He suggests:
...big pieces of legislation often need to be fixed after passage.Health care is a historic undertaking and this is no different.
If we in the Senate pledge to fix those top priorities right away through reconciliation... the House of Representatives should pass the Senate bill. The exact details of this process need to be worked out by the leadership and the president.
In a tribute to the work and memory of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, Senator Franken added:
I think we have to stop letting the perfect -- and everyone has different definitions of perfect -- ..be the enemy of the good... Walking away empty-handed to me is just not an option.
Sen. Franken's ideas are shared by a growing number of his colleagues including Sens. Arlen Specter (Penn), Max Baucus (Mont.), Ben Nelson (Neb.) Kent Conrad (ND), Jeff Bingaman (NM), Dick Durbin (Ill.) and others.
Not everyone has lost hope and given up.
As another common quote goes, "there's more than one way to skin a cat." Let's get health care reform done--any way that works.
Comments
"Walking away empty-handed to me is just not an option."
I agree that we can't achieve perfection. I know that a health care reform bill will have faults. But with out a so-called public option, there is no reform and the citizens of this country walk away empty-handed.
Peace,
Rich
We need to pursue Health care reform for practical reasons (to help reduce the federal deficit) and for humanitarian reasons ( prevent people from dying because they have no insurance). I believe it would be criminal to allow a minority party of NO to endanger our future for no other reason but crass political opportunism and lies. They propose something in the health care bill and then turn around and oppose the same thing. Insanity!!!! Lets get this country moving again and forget the republicans who have proven their worthlessness in helping to solve this important problem. GO Frankin
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