Two Issues from Sunday's Vote

The Hyperbole in Sunday's vote on the Obama Care proposal was amazing. From my perspective, and I watched a good bit of the debate, neither side did itself proud. However, two issues (both presented in the visuals for this post) made me think. First, I wanted to look at the cost curve for the two government run medical care programs - If you actually think that the bill that passed is likely to reduce the curve of government funded healthcare (which is a substantial portion of the bill) - even with the projected $500 billion in Medicare cuts, then you are making a tremendous leap of faith. The rate of growth in both programs is based on excessive cost growth not on the aging of the population. The chart by the way is from the CBO.

Second, the vote (where no GOP member crossed the line to vote for the bill) made me go back and look at two other major legislative achievements that members like Hoyer touted. Hoyer made the charge that in issues like this the GOP was always on the "wrong side" of the issue. Here are the actual votes on the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the original passage of Medicare. Both were hard fought battles. But in both, the minority party voted heavily in favor of the final measure. In the Civil Rights Act, most historians credit the leadership of Everett Dirksen as a key role in final passage. Hoyer was either mis-informed or simply using the BS that prevailed throughout most of the entire debate.