It was Will Rogers who is credited with saying, “We have the best Congress money can buy,” and the passage of time has shown us that Will was, sadly, all too accurate in his assessment.
We will see Will’s remark play out next week when Congress returns from its August recess and again takes up health insurance reform legislation.
A healthcare bill that would include something meaningful like a public option still, amazingly enough, has decent poll support among the American populace. What it doesn’t have is a Democratic leadership capable of understanding that when you hold a big majority of the seats in the House and Senate, you can actually do things like pass bills. Instead, the Dems have allowed a minority caucus dominated by right-wing kooks to steamroll them again and again and again on this issue.
The minority Republicans, as decimated as their numbers are, still have the discipline to keep their members united on this issue. They also have a healthcare industry that is dumping gobs of money on them — at the rate of $1.4 million every day — to keep things like a public option from ever passing. Healthcare lobbyists have the money to spend on this fight and they have a minority party that is only too willing to take that money and run with it.
Let’s take a look at the members of Georgia’s congressional delegation to see this dynamic at work.
The biggest recipients of healthcare dollars are Republican Reps. Tom Price and Phil Gingrey, who have played a leading role as media spokesmen in the GOP’s campaign to defeat a healthcare plan. Price has pulled in the eye-popping total of nearly $2.4 million in contributions from the healthcare industry sector. Gingrey has amassed nearly $1.87 million in donations. And these are relatively junior congressmen, neither of whom has even served four full terms in the House.
What fascinates me is that Price and Gingrey were both rightwing physicians before they were elected to Congress and they would have fought to the death any attempt by Democrats to pass legislation that derails the healthcare industry’s gravy train. Even so, the healthcare industry has dumped more than $4 million worth of campaign contributions on two congressmen whose votes they will always be able to count on.
Rep. Nathan Deal is a lawyer rather than a physician, but he has nevertheless been a magnet for healthcare industry money and he’s repaid that generosity by strenuously opposing healthcare reform legislation. He’s raked in more than $1.5 million in contributions, which puts him right up there in Price-Gingrey territory.
Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson both oppose the healthcare legislation proposed by the Democratic leadership, especially the provision for a public option. Should we be surprised at all that Chambliss has received $1.69 million in contributions from the healthcare sector? Or that Isakson has received nearly $1 million from the industry? No, we shouldn’t.
Rep. John Linder was a dentist before getting into politics but for some reason he has not made the big bucks that his physician colleagues Price and Gingrey have. It must be a sobering thought for Linder to realize that he has received the more modest amount of $606,000 from healthcare industry interests. Lobbyists don’t have to worry, however — if Linder can avoid passing out in a Georgetown bar, he’ll vote against the healthcare bill also.
Industry lobbyists have also been making healthy contributions to Blue Dog Democrats who have voted with the Republicans against health insurance reform or have opposed the concept of a public option.
Rep. John Barrow has already registered a vote against the House version of the healthcare plan — he was one of five Democrats who voted against the measure in committee on July 31, although the bill was still voted out by a 31-28 margin. The industry has obviously been grateful for his support, as Barrow has received nearly $360,000 in healthcare industry contributions.
Rep. Jim Marshall, who opposes the current House version of the healthcare bill, is a Blue Dog who has done even better than Barrow: he’s pulled in $462,000 from healthcare interests.
Oddly enough, there are congressmen who have resisted the allure of money. Rep. David Scott of Atlanta is a Blue Dog Democrat who is swimming against the tide on this issue as he has said he supports a public option, even while he has received $616,000 in health industry donations.
Rep. John Lewis, the senior member of Georgia’s delegation, has long been a strong supporter of healthcare reform even though the industry has given him more than $766,000 in contributions.
Rep. Hank Johnson has probably been the strongest supporter of a health insurance bill that would include a public option. He has also received only $51,752 in contributions from the healthcare industry.
As I said, Will Rogers knew what he was talking about. He also said: “This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.” Next week is when that hammer starts coming down.
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