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Teague pressured from both sides as health-care vote looms
U.S. Rep. Harry Teague (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Congressman hasn’t decided how he’ll vote, spokeswoman says, but he still has ‘serious concerns’ about the legislation
The New York Times is the latest news outlet to single out U.S. Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M., as one of the House Democrats who could decide the fate of health-care reform, highlighting the immense pressure on Teague from the left and right as the debate comes to a head.
The congressman still has “serious concerns” about the legislation, a spokeswoman said. Teague voted against the House version of the bill last year.
But Teague hasn’t decided how he’ll vote when the Senate version of the legislation comes up for a final vote in the House, spokeswoman Sara Schreiber said. The vote could come by this weekend.
“Since the health-care reform debate began last year, Harry Teague has hosted dozens of public meetings and has had conversations with constituents in every corner of his district and on both sides of the issue,” Schreiber said. “One thing is clear – his constituents expect him to read the bill and take time to analyze the impact before making a final decision, and that is exactly what he intends to do once there is a final proposal on the table.”
“That said, Harry Teague voted no on the House health-care bill and has expressed serious concerns about both the Senate bill and about using reconciliation instead of regular order to move this bill through the Congress,” Schreiber said.
Reconciliation is a procedural move that is intended to allow debate without threat of a filibuster. Under such a process, a bill needs only a simple majority – not 60 votes – to pass.
Pressure from White House, Pearce
Teague is one of 37 House Democrats who voted against health-care reform in November. The Times on Monday singled Teague out, along with three others, as “among those House Democrats whose decisions could make or break the legislation.” The newspaper is also reporting that the White House plans to prioritize fundraisers and visits to member’s districts in favor of those who voted for the legislation, providing an extra incentive for those members who are in tough re-election battles.
Teague is in one of the most hotly contested House races in the nation. He’s facing former U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, a Republican, and Pearce has a narrow lead in the two polls that have been released publicly.
While Obama and others are pushing Teague to vote for the legislation, Pearce and other Republicans have been pressuring Teague to vote against it – or at least providing a preview of how they’ll attack if he supports it. The Pearce campaign put out a news release on Monday asking, “Will Teague sell vote to Pelosi on health care?”
“New Mexicans have been patiently waiting to hear how Congressman Teague will vote on the health care bill,” Pearce spokeswoman Alicia Collins said in the release. “The question remains, will he vote with New Mexico and America and say ‘no’ to the higher taxes, government take-over of health care and job killing legislation? Or will Teague vote ‘yes’ and sell his vote for a presidential visit and extra cash for his campaign coffers?”
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What wedum suggests, a single payer system, is the ultimate goal of many of the proponents of “health care reform” including President Obama. They just won’t say that now . It’s not wrong to say “no” when you don’t like something you feel has not been dealt with openly or honestly. If the goal of this process was to reduce costs and provide coverage for those who need it, this could have been done simpler and with some element of bipartisanship.
What many people object to is the obvious course of events should this bill take effect: more government control, increased debt, lower standard of care (due to several factors) and the buy offs to various special interests to get this done.
It’s sad to see so many people wanting to see this big government takeover that leads our nation closer and closer to destruction. One would think that the lessons of Argentina, Nazi Germany and the Weimar Republic would be enough to make people wake up. We cannot keep making the same mistakes throughout history that we have in the past if we hope to survive. A totalitarian world run government is encroaching on the freedoms of the world now and will continue to erode the freedoms on not only this country but the rest of the world as well. People have to keep their eyes open to see the dangers. Be careful what you wish for, it may just become your legacy.
As MS says, “So Harry will not get my vote in November either way he votes on this, but I will respect him more if he votes for a principle rather than in reaction to pressure.”
this is exactly why Teague should vote for the health care reform bill. any of the R’s that complain would do the same, compliment him if he votes against it but vote for Pearce anyway. But he will SURELY lose Democratic votes if he votes against it.
If the Republicans weren’t the party of the NO spine, they would support the single payer opt out for individual states as a states’ rights issue.
It just gets stranger and stranger. Now Pelosi says she will just bypass the vote on the Senate passed and use a parlimentary abuse dreamed up by L. Slaughter (The Slaughter House Rules) and say it was “deemed” to pass. So no up or down vote as Obama promised. Then she will just introduce the reconciliation fixes that are larded with pork to buy votes and be done with it. I do wonder if the Dems know that the end will not ever justify the abusive means they are trying to use, and will doom them beyond belief in November with the American public. Then DNC’s Brazille says any Dem who votes against health care will get a primary opponent. Wonder if they already have one picked out for Harry?
Gee why do you think they picked Harry from the entire list of democrats that voted “no” the first time? Well he’s not in a safe seat, and a yes vote probably means the end of his tenure. They assume like with “Cap and Trade” they could remind him of all the money they gave him to win in ’08. Do they care about Teague or his district? No. They are looking for the weakest hold outs since they can’t argue the merits of the Senate Bill they themselves don’t like. This is an ugly process and Harry is a pawnin their game.
What Teague has to do is make his decision based upon principle rather than pressure. I will respect him more if he truly believes the way he votes and is not just pandering.
That said, if he votes against the wishes of his district, a year from now may look back at this moment and say, “Shuckins, I should have listened to my district instead of the Congressional leadership.”
As way of disclosure, while I am not a Republican, I have been friends with Steve Pearce since college Air Force ROTC and student government at NMSU in the late 60s and would give him exactly the same advice.
So Harry will not get my vote in November either way he votes on this, but I will respect him more if he votes for a principle rather than in reaction to pressure.
Where do you stand, Harry?
Harry will vote yes on the healthcare bill. Once the bill passes and the truth about the bill is out there, people will see that it is much better then what the R’s have been saying about it. Of course it is not perfect. It would have to be single payer to be perfect, but at least it is better then what we will have with nothing being done.
I would love to see Obama come back to Las Cruces and shed some light on the Republican talking points. Viva Obama!
Obama visiting Hobbs won’t help Teague, it will hurt him, as with in most every city in his district except the left leaning LC. If Harry votes for this, he is toast for sure, no amount of DNC money and Obama pep rallies with staged, hand-picked audiences will help. If he votes against it, he will have a chance but not a good one as he has already shown his progressive tendencies by voting for carbon taxes and many other job killing bills. It will be interesting.