DU's missing a big story: headline should have been "In Dead of Night"

[DeepModem Mom]

I posted this page-one WP story in LBN, and kpete posted here at GD, to little response, maybe because of its headline. The story is outrageous on its face, but its not so much about Congressional Republicans, secretly, throwing $22 billion dollars to insurance companies, as it is about one-party rule, and Democrats being shut out of decisions made in secret, "in the dead of night." (And accompanied by God knows what kind of "arm-twisting" by lobbyists and leadership.) We who are represented by Democrats in Congress are apparently often not represented at all. We're back to Colonial days -- taxed, but not represented.


WP: Closed-Door Deal Makes $22 Billion Difference
GOP Negotiators Criticized for Change In Measure on HMOs
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 24, 2006; Page A01

House and Senate GOP negotiators, meeting behind closed doors last month to complete a major budget-cutting bill, agreed on a change to Senate-passed Medicare legislation that would save the health insurance industry $22 billion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The Senate version would have targeted private HMOs participating in Medicare by changing the formula that governs their reimbursement, lowering payments $26 billion over the next decade. But after lobbying by the health insurance industry, the final version made a critical change that had the effect of eliminating all but $4 billion of the projected savings, according to CBO and other health policy experts.

That change was made in mid-December during private negotiations involving House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and the staffs of those committees as well as the House Energy and Commerce Committee. House and Senate Democrats were excluded from the meeting. The Senate gave final approval to the budget-cutting measure on Dec. 21, but the House must give it final consideration early next month.

The change in the Medicare provision underscores a practice that growing numbers of lawmakers from both parties want addressed. More than ever, Republican congressional lawmakers and leaders are making vital decisions, involving far-reaching policies and billions of dollars, without the public -- or even congressional Democrats -- present....

***

"It happens in the dead of night when lobbyists get a (Republican lawmaker) in the corner and say, 'We've got to have this,' " said Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark (Calif.), the Democrats' point man on Medicare issues. "It's a pattern that just goes on and on, and at some point the public's going to rise up."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/23/AR2006012301700.html?sub=AR

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. This sort of thing really pisses me off.

[IdaBriggs]

2. Grrrr...Kicked. Nominated. Grrrr. nt

[jimshoes]

3. Somewhere out here

in cyberland, there is a modern day Mdme. DeFarge keeping copious records on all the misdeeds being carried out by this gang. Some day when when we are "Recalled To Life" as it were, the ledger will be read and the guilty will be punished.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. I hope so. I've often wished everyone in the U.S...

could just read the headlines in LBN every day. They wouldn't even have to read our discussion forums. The headlines usually tell the story of what is going on, most of which never makes it to TV news.

[donkeyotay]

5. Republican corruption in the dead of night

They're not even trying to make government smaller as they promised the faithful. They're simply redirecting money to GOP donors, like the pharmaceutical industry. That doesn't make us more competitive. It makes us broke. What a travesty that this law was passed in the name of helping senior citizens.