The WSJ has a story which greatly indicates that large portions of the Senate Democratic Caucus has had enough of Senator Baucus' secret negotiations and selling out to special interests.
Senator Baucus reached an $80 billion “deal” with the pharmaceutical lobby. His “deal” (which should more accurately be called a sellout) denied reforms that could have resulted potentially in billions of dollars in savings.
A group of 22 Democratic senators sent Baucus a letter asking him to break his deal with the drug lobby. They want him to at the least implement a provision from the House bill which would save an additional $63 billion.
The timing of the letter is incredibly important. Baucus has privately promised to have his bill out of the Finance Committee before the August recess. To finish the bill on time he will need to wrap up his secret bipartisan negotiations next week. This could hurt his chances of finding a deal on time.
This is the first public statement by a large group of Democratic senators that they are unhappy with the Baucus is health care plan. After a month of Baucus repeated delays which threatens reform, the rest of the caucus may finally have had enough.
It should be remembered that every dollar Baucus gives away to the medical industry in sweet heart deals is a dollar that must come from tax increases on the American people.
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