Analysis: GOP Medicare tactics in question

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Republicans won a key domestic policy victory on the Medicare prescription drug bill, but many Democrats claim the GOP tarnished the legislative process in doing so.

Democrats see it not as party politics as usual but as a high-handed nose-rubbing they are not likely to forgive or forget anytime soon, especially if what Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., called a two-right-winged turkey of a bill turns out to be just that -- inciting a senior backlash.

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., ranking minority member of the Appropriations Committee, decried the Medicare deal as being "hatched behind closed doors."

It began in June. House Democrats watched in wonder as Republican leadership held open the final vote on the House Medicare bill while, as Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., told UPI, "arm bones were heard cracking" all over the floor until a one-vote victory was achieved in the middle of the night.

Democrats stood helpless as the congressional conference committee, convened over the summer to craft the House and Senate bills into a final report, excluded all House Democrats -- and all but two Senate Democrats -- in the most serious and final negotiations on the $395-billion package.

Republican leadership literally locked the conference committee room door and would not let the Democrats in.

Democrats were caught in a late-night maneuver again last Friday when the conference committee voted out its report at about 1:30 a.m. ET and pushed for a quick vote. House members had only several hours to read a 1,000-page report before debate began after daylight.

It was June all over again in the wee hours last Saturday as the GOP leadership in the House held open a 15-minute vote for an unprecedented three hours while they maneuvered to get the 220-215 tally that ultimately sent the conference report to the Senate after 6 a.m.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement the rushed House vote "brought dishonor" to the institution. She predicted Republicans would suffer at the polls next year.

In the Senate as well, the rush was on as the GOP thwarted attempts by Democrats Monday to delay a vote until after the holidays. Democrats reminded their colleagues the end of the year did not mean the end of the 108th Congress -- the bill could come back for consideration.

Their complaints went unheeded and a vote early Tuesday ended a whirlwind legislative dance that left many breathless.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., called the GOP rush a "sad commentary" on the Senate proceedings.

"When other voices are not heard, when the ideas are not brought to the table, then we all suffer," he said.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, called it a "sham process."

Some Democrats called the Republican adoption of Medicare as a key issue a Trojan horse. Others called it a bait and switch -- a move to dismantle the senior entitlement program in the guise of a prescription drug benefit.

"There is something awfully suspicious about this particular horse that is galloping through the Congress," Byrd said.

Kennedy, who declared the "rules of the House were bent and broken," said the GOP Medicare bill was "the first step in the administration's campaign to reshape America to fit its ideology."

The GOP was largely silent -- ignoring the criticism knowing the votes were there to pass the bill. GOP aides simply called it mudslinging by Democrats who could not defeat the bill.

Instead, Republicans, for the most part stuck to the idea during the debate that though the bill is not perfect, seniors cannot afford to wait for perfect. Prescription drug benefits had to be passed now -- to wait until next year would kill the effort. Republicans argued Democrats had known the basics of the legislation since June, when the original House and Senate bills passed.

"This is a good bill," said Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fla. "Let's do it for our seniors."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., dismissed questions Tuesday about the political motivations behind the bill and whether the GOP had successfully co-opted a traditional Democrat issue going into an election year.

"The victory is not for Republicans, the victory is not for the president, the victory is not for Democrats -- the victory is for the American people," he said.

Ironic, but the big GOP push to privatize Medicare likely will not even come to pass, some Republicans and analysts have concluded. Private plans that are cornerstones to the legislation might not even participate in the program -- they certainly are not flocking to Medicare+Choice now. They likely cannot be considered to reform the program because private plans are more expensive to operate than traditional Medicare.

So Republicans very well could be left hanging their hats on the drug benefit -- and here is where the Democrats are hanging their hopes for revenge.

The program really only helps the poorest of the poor -- who have incomes under $14,000 and marginal assets of less than $9,000 -- or those who have extremely high drug bills and qualify for the catastrophic coverage above $3,600 in drug costs. For the rest of seniors, the benefit could be modest at best and Democrats are counting on them being dissatisfied with a law that is complex and difficult to understand.

Daschle predicted Democrats would be back within a year to make changes to the bill because seniors "will not rest until we address them." Democrats already have vowed to introduce legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate discounts with pharmaceutical companies -- and they will not let the Republicans forget they opposed the measure that could lower drug prices.

The senior tide could be changing. Callers to the cable TV network C-SPAN during the House and Senate debate overwhelmingly opposed the bill. Thousands of seniors ripped their AARP cards to shreds after the advocacy group endorsed the bill. Harkin said at several town meetings held in Iowa over the summer not one of hundreds of seniors supported either the House or Senate bills. The 3-million-member Alliance for Retired Americans wrote: "Shame on the House and Senate for not taking the time to do the work to give seniors a comprehensive prescription drug benefit."

Medicare prescription drugs might well be back next year and back in the Democrats' corral as Republicans find seniors know a Trojan horse when they finally get to see one.

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Ellen Beck covers healthcare policy for UPI Science News. E-mail sciencemail@upi.com