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Saturday, Sep. 05, 2009

Congress to tackle health care

After hearing critics and supporters during recess, it's back to work.

WASHINGTON -- San Joaquin Valley lawmakers didn't catch much of a break this August recess, and neither did the health care reform package now awaiting them on Capitol Hill.

The lawmakers return Tuesday having gotten an earful for a month from constituents worried or just plain confused about the legislation that at last count totaled 1,026 pages. At the very least, the proposal appears badly hobbled coming out of the summer break.

"I think this health care bill needs a significant amount of alteration," acknowledged Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced.

Cardoza belongs to the House Blue Dog Coalition, whose 52 moderate-to-conservative Democratic members can make or break President Barack Obama's top legislative priority. The Blue Dogs, whose members also include Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, largely represent the kind of rural districts where big-government skepticism abounds.

Neither Cardoza nor Costa hosted the kind of summertime town hall meetings that in other congressional districts erupted into shouting matches. For that, the two Democrats received some local criticism. Both lawmakers, though, heard plenty in other events; Cardoza estimated he met with at least 2,500 people in 50 different sessions.

"My views were reinforced by what I heard," Cardoza said.

Costa, too, said he heard from many different people in many different meanings; a common theme, he said, was a desire for more "clarity" about what the legislation actually does.

"I'm one of the members that want to slow the process down, so that we have a better understanding of what it is we're looking at," Costa said. "I'm not prepared to vote for (the House bill) as it is today."

Both Democrats distanced themselves from at least part of the bill approved July 31 by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The panel narrowly approved the measure on a largely party line vote following an unusually long five-day markup.

The House bill includes a public insurance option, but that could easily change once lawmakers reconvene. Costa, for one, said he doesn't think a public option is critical for any final bill. Instead, he suggested the wisdom of "incremental change" that addresses the portability of insurance and the coverage of pre-existing conditions

Undeniably, the House bill is a work in progress; the House committee alone considered roughly 100 amendments. Some won quick approval, like one by Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, which protects insurance coverage for children under 2.

Other, more dramatic, revisions are certain to come. Republicans as well as many Blue Dogs want to shrink the bill's price tag, now estimated to be at least $1 trillion over 10 years. Blue Dogs in congressional districts nationwide have told various newspapers about their concerns that have grown over the past month.

"During August, almost every member of Congress heard the message to slow down, and take our time," said Spencer Pederson, spokesman for Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa.

Radanovich did not hold a town hall meeting in August, though he is considering one in a few weeks. One of his GOP Valley colleagues who did host a conventional town hall, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, knows what to expect.

"There were basically 180 or so really ticked-off people," said Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia. "I never used to get health care questions. Now, it's all people want to talk about."

Emboldened, Republicans are trying to corner potentially vulnerable Democrats by associating them with certain health care phrases and personalities. In recent days, for instance, Cardoza and Costa both were targeted by Americans for Tax Reform press releases that invoked politically loaded phrases like "aspirin tax" and the names of hot-button liberals.

"Only one week is left before (Cardoza) goes back to Washington to get his arm twisted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and New York's Charlie Rangel," one press release stated, using language identical to that in an anti-Costa press release.

The Americans for Tax Reform reports receiving more than $1 million a year for lobbying, Clerk of the Senate records show. The organization declines to make public its donors, though past reports have identified tobacco companies, Indian tribes and myriad corporations as among its contributors.