Trumka on The Senate Passing Health Care Reform: They Can Do It, They Just Choose Not To Do It
Chris Matthews talks to the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka about the need for at minimum to have a public option in the health care bill. Trumka does a great job despite Matthews' badgering and taking a shot at union members by asking him if they're going to "pummel" (Democratic Senators who won't go along) during the interview. Way to advance that "union thugs" meme there Chris.
Matthews: Can you pass a bill like that?
Trumka: Absolutely.
Matthews: How?
Trumka: We’re working on it.
Matthews: Where are you going to get the votes in the Senate?
Trumka: Well I think the President coming out helps us.
Matthews: You think you can get sixty votes in the Senate?
Trumka: I do.
Matthews: Where? Name the Republicans. Name one Republican.
Trumka: Snowe.
Matthews: Okay, name another one.
Trumka: Well, we don’t need another one do we?
Matthews: Oh, so you get every single Democrat to support the public option even though most them, up to five or ten percent of the Senate are saying they’re not going to do that.
Trumka: Well, we’re going to help them do the right thing.
Matthews: Kent Conrad the head of the Budget Committee said he can’t do it. He can’t do it.
Trumka: Well we’re going to help them do the right thing.
Matthews: What, are you going to pummel them? What are you going to do to make it happen? These guys say they can’t do it.
Trumka: We’re going to keep…they can do it, they choose not to do it. That’s what we’ve had in health care across the country for twenty five years. They keep saying “we can’t do it”. They can… they choose not to. It’s time for them to keep their promise to the American public. They said there’d be health insurance reform…
Matthews: These fellas or women represent states represent states that don’t even have Right to Work laws. You’ve got people representing states like Louisiana, Arkansas. There’s a lot of states that have…
Trumka: So what?
Matthews: …Democratic Senators that have a hard time..
Trumka: It doesn’t matter.
Matthews: …taking these liberal positions.
Trumka: It isn’t a liberal position.
Matthews: Isn’t it?
Trumka: This is supported by Republicans, Independents and Democrats. Look at the support for it. Now they came out and tried to muff it up, and tell lies about it.
Matthews: Yeah.
Trumka: And do everything they could to destroy it, but as we get the facts out to them, the support is growing and we need to…
Matthews: Well, imagine you’re Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas and you watched the last couple of elections. The Republicans sweep your state, like double digit, double-double digit, and you’re now going back to your state and saying I’m voting for a, the labor position on health care. (crosstalk) I’m going all the way over that far.
Trumka: It isn’t the labor position Chris… and you know better than that.
Matthews: Would you rather have nothing?
Trumka: You know better than that.
Matthews: Would you rather have nothing?
Trumka: Nothing or what?
Matthews: Nothing or a bill that has a trigger in it and bring in a public option if necessary.
Trumka: You can make an argument that if you’re not breaking the strangle hold of those insurance companies, you’re getting nothing.
Trumka goes on to say that the devil is in the details with all of this, and the bottom line is that if the legislation breaks the hold of the insurance companies and they'll be willing to look at whatever is put on the table.
This was from this past Friday's Hardball. Playing a little catch up after taking a few days off for the holiday. I still wanted to post this even though it's a little bit late because I think Trumka did a fantastic job on there.
kick their asses and chrissie's too.
Some stuff you can't make up!
needs to be reminded that they are angering the base...This man brings a BIG base and major organization group to or away from the table! As he chooses...truth to power..send this out en mass to media and cable!
Thanks Mr.Trumka!
Someone should make an ad of what Trumka said there for the first 30 seconds or so.
That was pretty persuasive.
And until they stop talking about health care costs in terms of dollars instead of in terms of Lives Lost, nothing will change.
Rethugs will NEVER support any bill that costs money for anything other than WAR AND DEATH.
They couldn't care less about the COST for death but don't want to spend a dime for LIFE because the lives that would be saved are NOTHING TO THEM and are UNWORTHY of life anyway in their tiny little minds and ruthless calculations.
much less a dollar, to them. OTOH, let them get a straw directly into the treasury via taxes or the law, then everything is hunky dory.
Some stuff you can't make up!
There wasn't all this town hall acting out when Bush handed money over to Wall Street.
All the AFL/CIO does is vote. They don't own any politicians. But God Bless them.
I just love the way CM talks over his guest. What an asshole.
the financial elite/corporations overall don't give a damn. they don't want us to compete with CHINA. bloomberg and cnbc talk CHINA everyday. the playing field is getting leveled....stagnant wages,"cheap labor", break unions and "outsourcing". don't trust the ones wrapped in a flag holding a bible they are under the persuasion of the capitalists.
Ronald Reagan started the Union busting. Republicans HATE Unions. They don't want to share the profits with the workers because they are way too greedy.
yup they've been breaking organized labor while allowing "cheap labor" in the country for some time.global capitalist are leveling the playing field. employers will be in control. there's NO loyality. that's romantic NONsense.
since 1968
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
did not have my glasses on
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
Yes We Can!!! We just won't.
Medicare for everyone...
I would like to know why these unions do not bring a bribery suit against these Senators. They could afford some pretty damn good lawyers. The fascists never think twice about suing if it fits their agneda.
I actually think they could convict some of these pricks. Wouldn't that be a hoot! This is as blatant as it gets! Liberals are pathetic at using the tools of opportunity.
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
Love this guy. He kicks dupa.
Trumka is correct. The American people need to win. Those Democrats that cannot support this President can be replaced. The Congressman from my district, a Democrat, supported some of Bush's agenda and if he wants my support in 2010, then he needs to support Obama's agenda. If not, then there will be no Democratic enthusiasm at the polls in 2010.
Asking Trumka who the other GOP senator was---to which he smartly responded that they didn't need any more.
Get it now Chris, you obtuse corporatist shill? I doubt it.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
Care more about the money they get from the corporations then the people they are supposed to represent! That is a fact. Not one fucking republican cares about anyone other then himself!
republicanism is a mental illness!
I have an idea we outlaw the rethug party. Then to preserve democracy we form a Progressive Party to go against the right Democratic party. No more grand bullshit, no more references to some so called grand party. That phrase is so silly and I think only morons use it.
No silly snark, or weak sarcasm. I call them like I see them, no fear.
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
tomorrow if the agenda was right and people I know and trust were involved.
Oh, and P.S.....I'd write a check.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
I thought that there was some kind of "reconciliation" process whereby this bill could be passed with 51 votes. So I wonder why I keep hearing this 60 vote thing.
This is what I think we'll get. No public option, and a individual mandate that will subsequently be found unconstitutional, winding up with nothing. But, we'll see what the Pres has to say Wednesday, and if there will be yet another tangent, like the Gates fiasco, to derail the dialog on health reform.
When we had a Town Hall meeting about a week ago here in The Berkshires, that was the chief complaint of the teabaggers: That H.R. 3200 (The Mass Plan on Steroids...with mandates/penalties etc.) is un-Constitutional. They are big states righters.
Well, that plus their hatred for any illegal immigrants getting so much as a Bandaid for a cut and their "We have ours so F the rest of youse" rantings.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
How can the healthCo monopolies 'compete' and still pay their CEO's extravagantly? If they have to actually compete, how can they pay handsome profits to shareholders? Who is this Trumka guy??
Is Trumka actually putting people's lives as more important than CEO magnificence and shareholder dividends? How dare he?!
/snark
The Union guy actually gave one of the biggest reasons why the public option should be looked at with a jaundiced eye. I think I heard him say something to the effect that 94% of the insurance markets are "concentrated", meaning limited competition, that 30% of claims were being disallowed, and that people need a public option so that they could leave the insurance companies over bad claims experience.
Well, from the progressive side of the debate, wasn't the biggest concern about the public option about it turning into a dumping ground for patients with significant number of claims, leaving the insurance companies with the more profitable people?
This whole reform effort has been a fiasco and a farce from the start because there has been no benchmarks. Given that we pay at least 50% more than people in other industrial countries, the objective should be to obtain a cost level comparable to the other industrial countries, provide a level of service comparable to the other industrial countries, and cover everyone, like the other industrial countries. Because these objectives were shelved in favor of developing a nebulous "American" solution, doublespeak for preserving corporate profits, we're going to wind up with next to nothing, I think.
!
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
When Obama said we need health reform, and so, I'll just lay back and let the Senate and House do their own thing, and like wow man ...
and this kind of crap: "The President has told visitors," the Washington Post columnist wrote last week, "that he would rather have 70 votes in the Senate for a bill that gives him 85 percent of what he wants rather than a 100 percent satisfactory bill that passes 52-48."
I'll take a 52-48 please. No excuses for acquiescing to the special interests please.
they are going to lose all their power soon, when biz can no longer afford to pay health care premiums
take health care off the table, and unions can truly negotiate for the workers
and american biz will again be able to compete with foreign markets
this is the thing that bugs me
repukes say they are pro biz
what is more pro biz then taking the onus for health insurance away from private biz?
This is the best position to get management to support single payer or public option - THEY will save money. We always hear them bitching about how expensive insurance is - this would take care of that problem for them. They'll have more money in their coffers - more to reinvest in their companies, more for them to take home in THEIR paychecks, and maybe, just maybe, a little more for the employees who are working harder year after year for those same employers. Yes, everyone will probably have to pay a little more in taxes, but it won't cost nearly as much as paying for private health insurance for their employees.
I know that there are a lot of heartless employers who could care less for their employees' well-being, but I also know that there are many who actually are human and do care about their employees, and taking this burden off of them would do a lot to lessen the stress level in many businesses - for both employer and employee.
Happy Labor Day!
Since this country has adapted the "free trade" policies, I have always thought in any health reform, that an analysis of employer based health coverage should be done to determine if the policy adversely affects our competitiveness with the rest of the world.
But, instead, the Flat Earth Society has framed the discussion at the "town halls", Newt and Sarah Palin are spouting off about "death panels", Democrats such as the heavily lobbied/bribed Baucus is writing the legislation, and the result has been a fiasco.
I see a near 0% review of the issues I think are relevant in health reform. One would be the free trade implications referenced above. Another would be, if it make business sense for businesses to be self insured, then why, if we're going to have a mandate that, as a nation, everyone is going to have insurance, why is it that we don't do it on a self-insured basis as large businesses do. I work for a self-insured employer and there's choice. There's the core option and several HMO options. Employee naturally pays the difference between core option and HMO option, if any. That's exactly how being self insured as a nation could work.
But all the knuckleheads have garnered the media attention, there's no meaningful dialog on anything that makes sense, and along with a bought off Congress and President, we're getting the best government that money can buy.
Tweety gets these odd, cheesy man-crushes that reveal his desperation to be "one of the guys" with Chimpy in a flight suit, then Trumka.
At least Trumka is trying to do something useful. Kudos. I hope it works.
One thing for sure: This time around, the scam alternatives to Medicare for all won't fool anybody. Triggers, co-ops and delayed implementation will drag all the Blue Dogs down to political doom.
"I think the president coming out helps us." The carebear is not going to help us. This is all bull-shit
then he would have to quit his job, run for senate (as an independent), and not get elected because everyone knows he is a big d.b. and then we would never have to hear from him again.
can glenda , billo , and rush be on the same ticket ( as in one way out of town ) oh sorry i was dreaming again damn .
And a much bigger list of neocons whose throats i would slit and sleep better for . Then again your choice ! .
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
WE have to break the strangle hold on the people by insurance companies! If the republicans win the country looses!
It has always been that way. If it is good for republicans it is bad for the American people! The last eight years was bad for the whole planet! But maybe we can do better now.
republicanism is a mental illness!
Just seems to love him some Republicans...he kisses up to DeLay but when there's someone on his program that actually cares about people he tries to rip him.
Geez....all they need to do is move Tweety, Buchanan, and Morning Joe over to FuckNews...
The Arkansas Times has reported that DLC Democrat Blanche Lincoln has receeived $957,000 from the health industry for her 2010 Senate race (for a state with 3 million people). Needless to say, she changed her position again on the public option. She's opposed to it.
I know Richard Trumka from his days with the UMW and his work in Waynesburg- Greene County, PA. the black lung capital of Appalachia. His hometown is a few miles away from mine and I have watched his career closely. He is a square peg, no nonsense, trustworthy and a good guy. He is the torch bearer for Joseph 'Jock' Yablonski the murdered 1969 UMW presidential candidate. Trumka calls it like it is, right or wrong, he is a man of conviction.
Frank Zappa - Make A Jazz Noise Here
Oopsie...wrong thread
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
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