Time for the Blue Dogs to Show Their True Colors
By Steven Pearlstein
WashPost
Friday, July 24, 2009
In a Congress polarized by partisanship and ideology, the balance of power often falls these days to centrist Democrats who, in the House, go by the name of Blue Dogs. Over the years, I've never been able to tell whether the Blue Dogs were the mushy kind of centrists just trying to reconcile the demands of liberal leaders with the demands of their more conservative rural districts, or radical centrists who reject the tired, interest-group-driven ideas of the left and right and seek fresh solutions based on free markets, balanced budgets and social compassion.
With health-care reform, we're about to find out.
The challenge for the Blue Dogs is that they want an America where everyone has insurance but are reluctant to force workers to buy it or employers to help pay for it.
They understand that achieving universal coverage will require subsidies for low-income workers and small businesses, but they insist that none of those changes add to the federal deficit or raise anyone's taxes.
They want to introduce more competition into the private insurance market, but not if it comes from a government-run insurance plan.
They complain constantly about the need to rein in runaway Medicare costs while at the same time demanding higher Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors and hospitals in rural areas.
(More here.)
WashPost
Friday, July 24, 2009
In a Congress polarized by partisanship and ideology, the balance of power often falls these days to centrist Democrats who, in the House, go by the name of Blue Dogs. Over the years, I've never been able to tell whether the Blue Dogs were the mushy kind of centrists just trying to reconcile the demands of liberal leaders with the demands of their more conservative rural districts, or radical centrists who reject the tired, interest-group-driven ideas of the left and right and seek fresh solutions based on free markets, balanced budgets and social compassion.
With health-care reform, we're about to find out.
The challenge for the Blue Dogs is that they want an America where everyone has insurance but are reluctant to force workers to buy it or employers to help pay for it.
They understand that achieving universal coverage will require subsidies for low-income workers and small businesses, but they insist that none of those changes add to the federal deficit or raise anyone's taxes.
They want to introduce more competition into the private insurance market, but not if it comes from a government-run insurance plan.
They complain constantly about the need to rein in runaway Medicare costs while at the same time demanding higher Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors and hospitals in rural areas.
(More here.)
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