Spokane7
37°
November 7, 2009
McMorris Rodgers, Minnick vote no on health care bill
WASHINGTON — In a late-night vote on Capitol Hill, the representatives from Eastern Washington and Western Idaho both voted against the House of Representatives’ version of health care reform.
Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, both said no to the largest overhaul of the U.S. health care system since Medicare was created in 1965. The bill passed 220-215.
McMorris Rodgers, who holds a leadership position in the Republican caucus, has often spoken against the Democrats’ main domestic priority. She voted against a version of the bill in committee, and said she’s been hearing strong opposition to it from her constituents.
“I’ve held town halls at home, the phone’s been ringing off the hook today… people want health care reform, but this is the wrong approach,” she said.
She said the bill will increase premiums for most Americans and will cut Medicare Advantage, affecting 20,000 seniors in Eastern Washington.
“It’s the wrong prescription for America,” she said.
Minnick, a moderate first-term Democrat from a conservative district, publicly announced his opposition to the House’s health care bill Friday. A member of the Blue Dogs, a caucus of conservative Democrats, Minnick has been given leeway in the past to vote against his party by a Democratic leadership seeking to protect its more vulnerable members.
“I want to support health reform, but we’ve got to do it right,” Minnick said.
He said the House bill does not include some of the criteria he feels is most important, such as “meaningful cost control” and allowing insurance to be bought and sold across state lines. But Minnick said some of the provisions in the Senate bill are encouraging, such as its lower cost and a public option where states can choose not to participate.
As the House’s health bill developed, Minnick said he suspected he’d vote against it. But he’s not sure how his constituents will respond.
“I have constituents who feel strongly both ways,” he said. “I’ve heard enough who strongly support it and enough who strongly oppose it that I’m not sure what my constituents will think. I’m just trying to do what’s best for them and their kids.”
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Rifleman__Dodd on November 07 at 8:47 p.m.
McMorris should also vote against being stupid, however she’s got big pot of it on her dinner table.
Why do we put up with this Queen of Mean?
Jimmy on November 07 at 10:16 p.m.
Anyone can throw a middle school insult online Rifleman. Let’s hear why you think she’s stupid or is it simply because she’s not with your party of choice?
SniperCraig on November 07 at 10:22 p.m.
Well, let me see how this works. According to some highlights I have read…
My wife & I can either earn over $102,100 a year pre-taxes and pay $20,300 a year in health care premiums and out-of-pocket obligations, or lose everything we have work so hard for and then go to prison.
OR
My wife & I can earn less than $102,100 but more than $44,000 a year pre-taxes and pay $7,300 a year in mandatory health care premiums and out-of-pocket obligations, or lose everything we have worked so hard for and then go to prison.
OR
If we earn less than $44,000 a year pre-taxes then YOU will pay for our health care through subsidies that go directly to my health care provider.
I can promise two things;
1) Nobody will find it easy to take away my possessions due to a ‘tax lien’ for a service I do not want, need, can afford, nor will I pay for.
2) Nobody will ever imprison my wife or I.
Scoutster on November 07 at 10:41 p.m.
Well, let’s see now, SniperCraig…
You already ARE paying for everyone else’s coverage if you have your own. That’s why it’s so expensive. You see, the insurance companies make a profit, so they never lose…in fact they are huge winners tonight. Their market just expanded by the millions. You and I have been bearing the burden for the uninsured for years, but not in a very intelligent way.
An historic day. We won’t turn back on this any more than we would turn back on other ideas conservatives thought “would end the world as we know it…” but somehow we survived.
Compulsory education; Medicare; school desegregation; 40 hr workweek; universal suffrage; child labor laws; the end of slavery….
Where are the conservatives today on these issues? I guess values change with time.
If Cathy stays around for another 20 years (which is quite likely since her seat is so safe), she will be standing up in the House in 2029 insisting “We won’t cut a penny from this program!” just as she is promising not to cut Medicare today (no alternative to cutting is presented, of course, as is the Party of No’s MO).
schleufer on November 08 at 5:34 a.m.
its time to vote her out of office. to me she is just another boehner recording of “no” when the republicans do things like this its clear to me its not about what is right and wrong, its about blindly following their party no matter what even if it means people getting sick and die.
when that article came out how much congress salaries are and how much their co pay for medical is it came out to about 45 minutes work a month to earn the money for their medical. for the rest of us a plan like that would cost more than a person would gross a month.
someone made a comment that this government plan they get is exactly what the republicans say is wrong and its exactly why obama gets called a socialist. they have a government run plan and the government dont even know how much it costs. they just pay the bill. some how its great for the republicans but wrong for the people…mostly the poor and have nots.
vote her out of office asap…
Diana on November 08 at 7:36 a.m.
Cathy McMorris-Rodgers is a birther who says and does what she is told. Never an original thought. Check her record.
SnifferCraig comes off like a scared little kid. Why not take the time and actually read the bill instead of allowing others to lead you with misinformation and fearmongering? Try thinking for yourself.