I wonder which category Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse would put Rep. Louise Slaughter in, now that she’s come out against the current senate healthcare legislation. Is she a birther? Part of an aryan support group? Running around with right wing militias?
According to this, Rep. Slaughter (D-NY), who is the chairwoman of the House Rules Committee and co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, said, “The Senate health care bill is not worthy of the historic vote that the House took a month ago.”
Now granted, many of her reasons for thinking it’s unworthy are totally counter to the reasons conservatives think it’s unworthy. She’s mad there’s no public option, and she’s mad about the abortion funding restrictions.
She went on, “Supporters of the weak Senate bill say ‘just pass it — any bill is better than no bill. I strongly disagree — a conference report is unlikely to sufficiently bridge the gap between these two very different bills.”
And THEN, she actually echoed what some Republicans have been saying for months: “It’s time that we draw the line on this weak bill and ask the Senate to go back to the drawing board. The American people deserve at least that.”
Gee. You think? You think maybe we deserve a bill that’s not thrown together in some dark and secret conference room somewhere and that doesn’t include special favors for certain senators at the expense of the taxpayers? You think we deserve a bill that is fiscally responsible and offers smart reforms instead of endless entitlements? Huh. That’s novel.
Her rationale might be wacked out, but it’s nice to see a Democrat speak out against this nonsense. Let’s hope more of them come to their senses in the weeks ahead.
I look forward to Sheldon Whitehouse’s assessment of Slaughter’s opposition.
