CapCon Day 2

I left you all feeling that day two had many expectations. The day started flat but the afternoon on “The Hill” gave us some interesting insight that had our group arguing most of the way back to the hotel. Here’s how it went down;
I was firmly in my seat at 8 a.m. and ready for the Senators to show up and give us all sorts of great info based upon what had happened just yesterday. The first speaker, Sen. Ben Nelson was late. NAHU did its best “soft shoe” to keep several hundred of us entertained and engaged as the time ticked away. Sen. Scott Brown arrived and went on ahead of Mr. Nelson. I have to say I had high expectations. All I can say after his speech is that he wants to create jobs, supports state’s rights and drives a truck. In my opinion, very disappointing. His speech was very middle of the road. Not what we expected from a “long shot” candidate.
Ben Nelson finally showed and, after last year’s informative speech, I felt that Sen. Brown was new and maybe doesn’t want to go too far out on limb, but Ben will tell us like it is. Wrong. Sen. Nelson was just as distant and hard to read as Sen. Brown. Bad start to the day. And I had already sat for over an hour. I’ve got things to do. This wasn’t a productive use of my time. It was at that time I started to think why. Then it became clear. The Senate has nothing to do at this moment and nothing to go out there for. The House is where the action is. The House is where all the info and influence is at this point. I re-focused, as Rep. Mike Pence was next. Surely he could give us some insight. But I was fearful that the newness of the information about the Senate bill would have him dodging like Ben Stiller in Dodgeball.
But Mike Pence (R-IL) did not disappoint. He was straightforward and gave great advice. He encouraged us to “talk from the heart” in our meetings on the hill and understood that cost was as much an issue, if not more, than access and coverage. He also understood that we represented our clients and not the carriers and reminded us that we are not representative of and industry, but representatives of a way of life. He mentioned that in his home town, he is not approached by folks asking for healthcare reform. He is approached by folks asking for jobs. He feels the focus of this administration should be on jobs at this moment, and not healthcare. I was glad to see someone from Congress giving us some useful information.
Sen. Tom Coburn, who shined so brightly in the Healthcare Summit, was a no-show and we had to end the a.m. session. Our state contingent gathered for lunch to coordinate our meetings on the hill.
My first meeting on the hill was with Rep. Paul Tonko’s Leg. Director. I did not expect him to share a while lot since the news about the House vote and the mandatory House Dem’s meetings was announced just yesterday. I really wanted to get a feel for how he felt the house would vote and see if Rep. Tonko had any questions or concerns about the Senate bill they were being asked to vote on. His initial indication was that there was a lot of “arm twisting” going on and that he thought the Senate bill would pass the house. Tonko voted “yes” on the House bill last November and it is my opinion that he will vote “yes” on the senate bill too.
After our Tonko meeting it was off the Rep. Scott Murphy’s office. We had no meeting set, but we thought we would try to see if we could get a meeting. No go here, but they said they would call with a possible meeting tomorrow. Rep. Murphy voted “no” on the House bill last November, so it would be good to hear what the concerns are now.
Next it was a meeting with Rep. Michael Arcuri. He was in, but was running behind and asked us to wait until he finished up. After some time, an aide came in and noted she would meet with us until Rep. Arcuri finished. We stated our case, but a got a very neutral response from the aide. It was apparent that she was not going to tip which way Mr. Arcuri was leaning. Arcuri voted “yes” on the House bill in November and had just been quoted in a newspaper as being opposed to the Senate bill. We finished our meeting without having met with Mr. Arcuri and headed out.
As we went down the hall Rep. Arcuri came towards us. We stopped and he spent a moment with us in the hall. He was extremely friendly and gracious, but gave us the indication that he was leaning towards a “yes” vote. In his words, “we may never be this close”. We thanked him, made our case for our concerns, shook his hand and headed out.
On the walk back, all of us (Norm Michaels, Chris Koetzle, Kishan Perera and I) could not help but come to the conclusion that a “yes” vote is very much a reality. It seems the House is going to place its trust in the Senate to fix the bill (through reconciliation) and pass health care reform.
Tomorrows appointments include both our Senators (Schumer & Gillibrand) as well as another try for Murphy, a meeting with Rep. Hall, Rep. Rangel and Rep. Maloney.
I will try to ascertain the outcomes of the meetings I was not involved with. In the meantime, the over-arching message is health care reform seems to be pouring like and avalanche coming down the mountain.
Good night all.
Pete