Senator Grassley Plays Politics With Health Care

Radio Iowa is reporting that Senator Grassley met with President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Democratic Senator Max Baucus in the White House, Wednesday, just the four of them.  In his own words, Grassley shows his true loyal-only-to-the-GOP colors in this interview.  Revealing in the bottom paragraph of this excerpt that he has no intentions of maintaining bipartisanship unless he gets his way, it is becoming clear that Grassley needs to be replaced in 2010.  Grassley would rather play politics than pass health care reform legislation that would truly be in the interests of his constituents.

Grassley meets with Obama in White House

By O.Kay Henderson

Senator Chuck Grassley had an hour-long lunch today with the president, vice president and another key senator involved in behind-the-scenes discussions on health care reform. It was just the four of them, as Grassley says no staff were present.

According to Grassley, he had “more than ample opportunity to make the points that (he) wanted to make,” and Grassley stressed the importance of President Obama's involvement in the process.

“The implication was that the president needs to be in the center of this thing to move things along,” Grassley said.

Grassley is the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee and he's been working with Senator Max Baucus, the Democrat who chairs the panel, on the issue of health care reform. Grassley and Baucus discussed the idea of a broad, publicly-funded health insurance plan with Obama and Biden, but Grassley made clear his objections.

“There was no indication of any line being drawn in the sand,” Grassley said, “…although I indicated it was a major problem.”

Grassley believes meetings of this sort will only occur again if the health care reform plan that emerges in congress is bipartisan – getting support from Republicans and Democrats.

“I would say that I got a great deal of confidence that the White House prefers a bipartisan agreement,” Grassley said.

But Grassley fears Democrats may choose to pass their own plan and if that's the path Democrats take, Grassley vows to create a Republican alternative to present to the American people [Note from BFIA: If Grassley can produce an alternative plan, why not present it to us now?]

According to Grassley, Obama's four years as a United States senator gives the president a perspective on the “uniqueness” of the senate and what it takes to get things done.  [Read: politics as usual, Mr. President, politics as usual…] 

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