David Axelrod’s Sunday Show Flip-Flops
Appearing on “This Week” yesterday, White House advisor David Axelrod attempted to claim both sides of two critical issues in the health care debate. On the process used to enact health care legislation, he said that “we don’t want to see procedural gimmicks used to try and prevent an up or down vote” on a health bill. However, when pressed about Democrats’ “Slaughter Solution” to enact the Senate bill into law without the House ever voting on it, Axelrod claimed that such issues really “don’t matter.” In other words, the Administration opposes Senate Republicans using “procedural gimmicks” to prevent the passage of a Senate bill they oppose, but supports House Democrats’ “procedural gimmicks” to prevent them from voting on a Senate bill they similarly dislike.
Likewise, when questioned about the widely unpopular backroom deals included in the Senate bill, Axelrod attempted to distinguish the “Cornhusker Kickback” from the “Louisiana Purchase” and other unsavory agreements, claiming that the latter provision is not “state-specific” and that other states could qualify under “certain sets of circumstances.” This waffling comes even as Senate Democrats attempt to preserve their backroom deals, despite the public outrage that came as a result of their inclusion in the Senate bill. And it raises additional questions: Would the “Cornhusker Kickback” be permitted by the Administration if the language was written in a way that all states could theoretically qualify for the money, even in reality only one state could do so? (i.e. “the nation’s leading corn producer will have its Medicaid fully paid for by the federal government” – a standard any state could in theory meet, even though a state like Alaska is highly unlikely to do so). And how desperate are Democrats to enact their government takeover of health care that they would even attempt to justify these backroom deals through such questionable posturing?
TAPPER: If it does not work this week, is that the last chance for health care reform?
AXELROD: Well, I believe it is going to happen this week. I think we’re going to have a vote, and the American people are entitled to an up or down vote. We don’t want to see procedural gimmicks used to try and prevent an up or down vote on this issue. We’ve had a long debate, Jake. It’s gone on for a year. The plan the president has embraced and has put forward is one that takes ideas, the best thinking from both the Republican and Democratic sides. This marketplace where people can buy insurance who don’t have it today, a competitive marketplace — that’s an idea that both sides embrace. The place where we don’t agree is on whether there should be some restraint on insurance companies and whether they should be allowed to run wild. We believe there should be some restraint, some on the other side don’t think so. …
TAPPER: House Democrats are talking about using a procedural maneuver to pass the Senate bill in the House and then the fixes without ever actually having a vote on the Senate bill. Here is Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, a Democrat of California.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOOLSEY: I don’t need to see my colleagues vote for the Senate bill in the House. We don’t like the Senate bill. Why should we be forced to do that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Can the president support a procedure where members of the House pass the Senate bill without ever voting for the Senate bill?
AXELROD: Well, look, I think everybody is going to be on the record by the end of this week on these matters, and of course in answer to Congresswoman Woolsey, the president’s proposal is not the Senate proposal. With the corrections that have been made, with the improvements that have been made, some including Republican ideas, some including Democratic ideas, this is — this is a different proposal, and I think it addresses some of the concerns that people have had.
TAPPER: But when pushing reconciliation in the Senate, the president has talked about how the Senate bill deserves an up or down vote. Shouldn’t-
AXELROD: Health care, Jake, health care deserves an up or down vote, and health care will get an up or down vote. Remember, we already had up or down votes in the House and Senate, 60 votes in the Senate, the bill passed the House as well. Now the question is do we pass the requisite improvements to this bill, corrections to this bill to make it even stronger, and I think we will.
TAPPER: So the parliamentary stuff doesn’t matter. It’s just a question of whether or not the overall package–
AXELROD: What does matter is that people cast or are allowed to cast an up or down vote on the future of health insurance reform in this country. We have had a year. Enough game playing, enough maneuvering. Let’s have the up or down vote and give the American people the future they deserve. …
TAPPER: One of the things that the president has acknowledged the American people don’t like about the bill as it exists right now, the Senate bill with all the special deals that are in there for individual senators to win their vote. The president has directed the House and Senate to remove those from the fixes that you guys are creating, but some members of the Senate and the House are pushing back. They want those deals. Are you ready to pledge that none of those deals or any other deal that other members may be trying to get as this is being pushed through the House, that none of them will be in this final bill?
AXELROD: Well, the president does believe that state-only carveouts should not be in the bill. There are things in the bill that apply to groupings of states who satisfy — for example, in Louisiana, the — what has been portrayed as a provision relating to Louisiana says that if a state, if every county in a state is declared a disaster area, they get some extra Medicaid funds. Well, that would apply to any state that–
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: — talking about Montana, talking about $100 million for a hospital in Connecticut–
AXELROD: The principle should be, the principle should be, do those provisions apply to everyone? In other words, are there things that pertain, that if a state satisfies a certain set of circumstances, they would — they would qualify. And I think that is different than a special state-specific thing. In the case of Nebraska, what everyone was outraged about was that it seemed to be a special deal just for one state. That is not going to be in this bill.
TAPPER: So none of the things that are state-specific to win the votes of individual senators. Louisiana not counting as that, but none of the others will be in the final bill.
AXELROD: The principle that we want to apply is that are these — are these applicable to all states? Even if they do not qualify now, would they qualify under certain sets of circumstances. …