Although the news does not seem to be official yet, it looks like the House of Representatives will not be voting on a health care reform bill before the August recess. If there is no vote, many members of Congress wil return to their districts without a clear vote about liberal’s version of health care reform on record. Many members will be meeting with their constituents during recess and the health care reform plans will inevitably come up in many conversations. With that in mind, conservatives and moderates alike who do not support liberal health care reform plan should make sure to let their public officials know about their opinions on the subject during this important recess.
Although liberal health care reform will be weakened by a lost deadline (the Senate at least will definitely not be voting on health care before the recess and it is likely that the House will not either), it will still be a major priority for both the House of Representatives and the Senate after the recess. People should use the August recess as an opportunity to talk to their public officials about health care reform and important issues surrounding it (such as the public option, the costliness of reform, the threat to private health care companies that many conservatives say this policy presents). There is little doubt that health care reform will lose some momentum during the recess with Congress out of session. There is also little doubt that liberals in Congress and the president of the United States have faltered in their plans thus far and have been forced to compromise on the deadlines that they hoped to meet.
However, there is also little doubt that the health care reform debate will start again once the recess is over and voters should not underestimate the importance of this bill to the liberal members of Congress and to the Obama administration. Although their plan has hit some roadblocks, both liberals in the Congress and the White House want to push through a health care reform bill before the end of this year.
A recess may be coming for the House and the Senate and the sounds of the House and Senate floor may be silenced for a while but the debate about health care reform will continue throughout the month of August and those against liberal health care reform should use this opportunity to voice their concerns about health care reform to their elected officials before debate resumes on Capitol Hill after the recess.
Posted 07-29-2009 11:59 AM by John Hanlon
The American Issues Project
