Health Care Alternatives Offered, Rejected

By Evan at September 14th, 2009.

Newsbusters.org debunks what it calls a “Media Myth” today: GOP Has No Health Care Ideas. Two Washington State Representatives are noted in the article, for having offered amendments in committee that focused on areas where the President and Republicans agree:

With the exception of the public option, President Obama and GOP lawmakers agree on most major provisions on health care reform: increasing competition in the health insurance market; keeping bureaucrats out of the doctor’s office; passing a health care bill that helps, or at least does not hurt, the economy; keeping legislation deficit neutral; preventing increases in taxes for the vast majority of citizens; preserving Medicare benefits for seniors; and preventing taxpayer dollars from funding abortions.

Unsurprisingly, national media has focused on areas of disagreement and process, rather than agreement and policy. The News Busters article first notes an amendment Eastern Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Spokane) offered:

The GOP also tried to lend a hand to President Obama in helping him to keep his campaign pledge of not raising taxes for individuals making less than $200,000 per year. An amendment offered by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., would exempt all individuals making less than that from all taxes contained in the bill. It was killed in the Ways and Means Committee. A similar amendment, offered by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers in the Education and Labor Committee, was shot down by panel Democrats, with Chairman Miller leading the charge.

Representing the innovative 8th Congressional District that’s home to Micorsoft, Congressman Dave Reichert (R-Auburn), offered an amendment designed to protect jobs, but was similarly shot down:

The employer mandate, according to some analyses, would, within five years of its enactment result in 1.6 million fewer jobs, a $200 billion contraction in GDP, 1.2 million fewer work hours per week, and an annual decline in wages of $71 billion.

Republican amendments offered in separate committees by Reps. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., and Wally Herger, R-Calif, would suspend the employer mandate if unemployment reaches 10 percent. Both amendments were killed in committee.

To address the objections of lawmakers who rejected that the employer mandate would be economically detrimental, Reps. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., and Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., offered amendments in two separate committees that would exempt from the employer mandate any business that claims (and whose claims are certified by the Secretary of the Treasury) that the mandate has imposed financial hardships that have forced those businesses to lay off workers or cut salaries, or prevented them from hiring additional workers. Both of these amendments were defeated by Democrats on the respective panels.

Some have tried to portray Congressional Republicans as “do-nothings” with “no ideas,” but the above amendments put the lie to that kind of cheap talk.

Of course, if you get your news from the MSM–as News Busters points out–you wouldn’t be in the know.

Tags: Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Dave Reichert