WASHINGTON, DC — John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, Profiles in Courage, is a 1957 volume of short stories that describes acts of bravery and integrity by eight United States senators from America’s past.
The book, co-written by Ted Sorenson, profiles senators who defied the opinions of their party and constituents to make what they felt were the right decisions. Each of the eight senators suffered severe criticism and losses in popularity because of their actions.
Kennedy’s book hails the courage of each of these men, as they made their decisions despite the unpopularity in their home states at that time.
The book follows the trials and tribulations of, among others, John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Sam Houston and Robert Taft, as they struggled with issues related to the lingering challenges of the 19th Century, including slavery, states rights, trade and the threat of Civil War.
As lawmakers are returning from the Independence Day Holiday break, there are at last count 10 Republican members of the current United States Senate who are having their own Profiles in Courage moment this month as their fellow Republicans try desperately to pass a new healthcare bill. Lacking a single Democratic or Independent senator who is willing to cross the aisle and vote for the bill, Republicans are desperately trying to get members of their own party in line to vote for the health care bill.
Such is the national rancor for repealing the current health care law, that many senators — whether they’re up for re-election or not — just won’t get behind McConnell.
Even as health insurance costs continue to spiral up and out of control, these 10 senators have taken a hard position much to their fellow Republican colleagues’ dismay. So far, these people won’t stand behind Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his team to get a new healthcare bill passed.
Instead, there are six Republican senators, including Rand Paul (R-KY), Susan Collins (R-ME), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), Dean Heller (R-NV) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) who have indicated they can’t/won’t vote for the bill as it came out of the 13-person drafting committee. And four other Republican senators – Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Bill Cassady (R-LA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) and Rob Portman (R-OH) — have said unless changes are made in the bill, they can’t support it, either.
Senate Republicans don’t have much room for error as they try to rush through a healthcare bill in the next few weeks. Assuming no Democrats vote for this bill (a safe assumption because it attempts to unravel Obamacare), Senate leaders can afford to lose only two Republicans.
After a Congressional Budget Office report estimates the bill would leave 22 million more people uninsured by 2026, Republicans have at least four fellow GOP senators who have indicated they’ll vote “no” on a key procedural vote. That would effectively kill the bill.
To be fair, there is opposition to the bill on both sides of the Republican ideological spectrum. Relatively moderate senators are cautious about taking drastic measures to roll back Obamacare. Some of the most conservative senators are concerned that this bill may not go far enough.
Either way, McConnell is pressing hard to find common ground, and get to a bill that these 10 senators can get behind.
Late last week, McConnell announced the bill would be withheld from a vote until after the Fourth of July.
But what clearly is happening behind the scenes is that each of these 10 Republican senators is getting a lot of pressure to vote for the bill in its current form.
President Trump called a special meeting at the White House where many members of the group of 10 that are opposed to the bill were put in a room with Trump to discuss sections of the legislation they are concerned about. The photo opp was impressive, with Collins of Colorado, and Murkowski of Alaska, flanking the president in the East Room of the White House as the cameras rolled.
But the reality is that it will be very hard to get the votes the Republicans need to pass health care legislation.
The people who will be hit the hardest, should Trump get his way and a bill is passed, at least in its current form, are the poor, elderly and baby boomers. In fact, cuts in Medicaid will affect millions of Americans. Baby boomers, especially those with a pre-existing condition, could be paying up to five times their current insurance premiums.
For many small, and mid-sized companies, the escalation in healthcare premiums will force many to raise prices and change their business models just to cover these increased costs.
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Words Matter will be writing several stories about health care in the next month. Mike Varga, Garrett Foster, Steve Schuster and Dr. David Freedman have all agreed to write stories on how the bill will change how baby boomers will deal with health care. We don’t have all the answers, but we will start to raise some important questions, and maybe come up with a few new ideas, too.
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Meanwhile, these 10 Republican senators are going to have a hard time. Their party will cajole, plea, beg and eventually threaten each of them with their political futures if they don’t support the GOP.
But having watched Collins, Capito, Paul and Portman over the years, chances are they will end up on the right side of this argument. They will work to find a bi-partisan solution in the Senate with Democrats that creates a new bill that begins to fix and address problems with the current healthcare act.
Still, it will require the House to also come to some common ground and address key elements of the current law of the land.
In a town where politics has not been “the art of compromise” for a long time, perhaps the moment is at hand?
Congress actually moving toward a bi-partisan solution that helps Americans address the growing healthcare problem – that’s what Americans want.
Still, it’s going to take some members of the Group of 10 to show the kind of courage JFK was looking for when he wrote his famous book. Stay tuned; this one may be going on all summer.
Words Matter 