Health insurance reform baton passed to Reid in Senate - first hurdle is Lieberman

November 9, 3:41 PMWorcester County Progressive ExaminerThomas Deusser

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Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (CFJ-CT) (senate.gov)

Health insurance reform may have passed a tough vote in the House, but there is still plenty of work to be done in the Senate.

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid technically has 60 votes in the Democratic Caucus, which he would need in order to open debate for the Senate version of a health insurance reform bill, but in reality that is a tougher task than it looks.

Public enemy number one would be, of course, Sen. Joe “Look at me!” Lieberman (Connecticut for Joe – CT). In his desperate attempt to remain in office past 2012 continues to drive his comments, Sen. Lieberman (who has spoken out against his caucus many times, as well as campaigning for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) during his 2008 Presidential Campaign) has struck again, telling reporters this last week about his intention to join Republicans and filibuster the start of debate on the bill:

I told Senator Reid that I'm strongly inclined--I haven't totally decided, but I'm strongly inclined--to vote to proceed to the health care debate, even though I don't support the bill that he's bringing together because it's important that we start the debate on health care reform because I want to vote for health care reform this year. But I also told him that if the bill remains what it is now, I will not be able to support a cloture motion before final passage. Therefore I will try to stop the passage of the bill.

What Sen. Eeyore (thanks for noticing me) is implying is that he would be the first U.S. Senator in history to support a filibuster started by the minority party, in which he's not a part of. Unless, that is, Sen. Lieberman gets what he wants, stating unequivocally that he would not vote for a bill which included a public option.

Why would Sen. Lieberman vote against something that 65% of his constituents support? Why would this self-ascribed “lifelong Democrat” threaten what appear to be his own interests? As is always the case in Washington, follow the money. A cursory look at opensecrets.org shows that Sen. Lieberman's vote (although maybe not at first glance) is bought and paid for by the health insurance and pharmaceutical lobby. Looking past the fact that Bear Stearns, Lehman and Citigroup are among the Senator's top-12 donors, you see United Technologies as number one. You think of UT and you think mining, big tractors and oil wells, but what you don't see is that they are the parent company of Hamilton Sundstrand, in which, you'd probably think the same thing as you would with UT. But then, you see Hamilton Sundstrand is the parent company of Sundyne, and what does Sundyne make? Well, among other things, it makes equipment for pharmaceutical companies to make their process faster.

At number eight on the list is International Specialty Products, which makes anything from chemicals for beverages to fertilizer. But, it also produces chemicals which are sold to, yes, big pharmaceutical companies, to make pills, eye drops, whatever you might need.

At number ten on the list is Aetna Inc. Well, there isn't a whole lot to be said here.

If ever a politician's stance on an issue sounds stilted, or not quite right, there's usually a very good chance that there is a big special interest pulling the strings, or cashing in on their quid pro quo. Not surprisingly, Lieberman is being backed by just that. Also not surprisingly, the other “blue dog Democrats” in the Senate are similarly (although far more blatantly) in the pocket of the health insurance or pharmaceutical lobby.

If these Senators think the weak arguments with nothing support of them will work in the age of Google, they need to think again. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) has already backed away from her comments this past summer. This country needs comprehensive health insurance reform, has needed it for decades, and has been blocked by special interests for far too long. The devastation that would be caused by inaction at this time to the American family would be absolutely unconscionable. That's why this is important, and that's why the Senators who choose to block it and vote against their own constituent's interests must continue to be exposed.