Will The Health Care Negotiations Be Democratic?

A major concern that I have for the negotiations between the House and Senate on Health Care reform is how the process is conducted. Because the legislation to this point has been dominated by one party, there is concern that the continued negotiations will be a one party process. One would usually expect a conference committee to work out an agreement. However, there is already discussion about avoiding the use of a conference committee composed of members from both parties, and instead having the leadership of the Democratic party to work out the differences. If this happens, it will exclude any possibility of the health legislation becoming a bi-partisan effort. Closed door meetings are already being held, and it appears that there will be no transparency as work continues on the legislation. The rush also continues in an effort to piece together a bill in time for the President to announce it during his State of the Union Address.

This is unfortunate! We know that taking the time to carefully consider all facets of the bill rather than rushing it through will provide America with better legislation. Additionally, there is no doubt that a bi-partisan effort will also lead to a higher quality bill. Republicans are complaining, and Democrats are even admitting that the legislation is not perfect, yet they push onward.

We elected our members of congress to represent us! We did not elect them to represent only Democrats nor only Republicans. They were elected to represent everyone, and to do the best job possible. If they possess the leadership abilities that were portrayed to us during their campaigns, then one would expect them to possess the knowledge and skills necessary to work out the differences in a bi-partisan effort, and make the legislation the best that it can be. This will not happen in closed door meetings with a few members of one party. High quality health care reform is important for all of us, but unfortunately, the process for achieving this is going to let us down!