Speaking of the Healthy Americans Act, it seems to be gaining converts among Republicans. Perhaps unsurprising, but nonetheless encouraging:
Wyden is winning over the GOP on healthcareBy Alexander Bolton and Jeffrey Young
Posted: 05/18/09 08:15 PM [ET]
Some of the biggest names in the Democratic Party have lined up to take the lead on healthcare reform, but the key to a bipartisan compromise may be the lesser-known Sen. Ron Wyden.
The Oregon Democrat doesn’t chair a committee in the upper chamber and represents one of the most liberal states. Yet Wyden has emerged as a potential game-changer by insisting the legislation have strong support across the aisle and forging a partnership with a GOP senator who has the Senate minority leader’s ear.
Republicans are so impressed with Wyden’s bill that some are convinced he represents President Obama’s best chance for getting major healthcare reform signed into law this Congress.
And while Democratic Sens. Edward Kennedy (Mass.) and Max Baucus (Mont.) may chair the committees charged with shepherding the bill through the Senate, Wyden, a 6-foot-4 former college basketball player, has his own advantage: a standing invitation to play hoops with the president at the White House, which may come in handy when hashing out the final details behind the scenes.
For Wyden, the key to passing lasting healthcare reform is finding a legislative solution that can win at least 70 votes in the Senate — and he’s not shy about letting Democrats know that means dropping thoughts of a government-run public plan for the entire nation.
To make his case, he has met individually with more than 80 Senate colleagues to discuss his proposals. He has envisioned his role as neutral broker so vividly that during the height of the Democratic presidential primary, Wyden refused to back either Obama or then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).
Wyden counts among his closest friends Sens. Bob Bennett (R-Utah), who is a confidant of Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who is widely respected and has a knack for persuading colleagues to support compromises.
Bennett has signed on as the chief GOP co-sponsor of Wyden’s bill and has persuaded two other members of the Senate Republican leadership to join him: Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) and Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.).
“The history of bringing about enduring change, change that is going to last, change that people are going to rally behind — that history is predicated on bringing people together,” Wyden said during an interview in his Senate office. “There’s a real path of getting an upwards of 70 votes for historic health reform, where the country can say, after all these years of bickering and fighting and polarizing contentious debate, people really came together.”
Wyden’s support among Republicans is surprising because he is far from the far-right of his own party. He is the son of a muckraking journalist who smoked cigars with Fidel Castro. After college, Wyden founded the Oregon chapter of the Gray Panthers, a liberal advocacy group for senior citizens that borrowed its name from the radical black-power activists of the 1960s, albeit with some humor. One of the group’s first victories was passage of a referendum reducing the price of dentures.
“Sen. Wyden, by virtue of spending a lot of time on the issue and having attracted a lot of Republicans and Democrats, is a strong force,” said Alexander. “Senators that know an issue earn the respect of other senators, and we listen to them.”
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