TN Senators Speak out against Health Reform Bill

As you may have already heard, at 1 am this morning the Senate passed a crucial vote to end debate and bring the health care bill to the floor for a vote on Christmas Eve. The bill does not include a public option or an extension of medicare to those 55 to 64 but does contain sweeping provisions for the health insurance industry.

Tennessee's Senators both voted against ending debate, and Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker added their two critical cents yesterday and today on CBS programs.
Alexander appeared on "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer, opposite Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown and La. Democrat Mary Landrieu. The conversation was respectful but tense, and Brown gave Knoxville a shout-out towards the end.
 

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Meanwhile, Corker appeared on "The Early Show" Monday morning to debate Minn. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

We're witnessing some real sausage-making here. Republicans are asking for more time even though their history, recent behavior, and current political incentives suggest they're dead-set on killing whatever's proposed, regardless of projected costs or effects on industry or their constituents.

Meanwhile Dems are doing whatever they can to get the bill through, including passing hundreds of pages of amendments at the last minute, handing out millions to reluctant senators to buy their support, and holding votes in the middle of the night and on Christmas Eve.

It's not pretty. Then again, if it were, it wouldn't have taken decades to do.