There’s not much to say about
Joe Lieberman’s statement that he’ll vote to filibuster a health reform bill that has a provision for a public option. First of all, I’m sick of hearing about Joe Lieberman. Second of all, this is really not about Lieberman — it’s more about Harry Reid, the Democrats’ ineffectual majority leader.
Lieberman’s position on this isn’t much of a surprise, and nobody should really be blindsided by it. I sure hope Reid was never counting on conservative Democrats like Lieberman and Mary Landrieu to be supportive of the public option. Regardless of their positions, though, Reid’s job is to figure out how to get the votes. Don’t have full support of your party? Figure out how to get it, even if that means hard-ball bargaining with fellow Democrats. Don’t have 60 Democrats? Then find a way to get a few Republicans on board, or look at passing the bill through budget reconciliation. Ultimately, the point is that Reid needs to get this bill passed, however he has to do it.
Look, I know Reid’s job is hard. I know that, sometimes, we’re just not going to get the votes we need. But Reid has consistently had a lot of trouble getting the votes and the party unity he needs. This really isn’t about Joe Lieberman — he’ll most likely be out of the Senate after this term anyway. This is about whether Harry Reid has what it takes to get something done in the Senate.
What a horrible week for Coleman so far. Then he makes
this grave mistake:
Washington, D.C. - United States Senator Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) issued the following statement today regarding Senator Norm Coleman’s record of aggressive oversight as Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
“As Chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, I know that during his time as Chair and Ranking Member of our Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Norm Coleman has uncovered over $80 billion of government waste, fraud and abuse. Norm has been aggressive in protecting taxpayers, and rooting out corruption. His leadership is marked by groundbreaking reforms in Medicare, the United Nations and border security.
Joe Lieberman standing with Coleman on oversight? That’s weird. Turn back the clock just two years to hear Lieberman tell a different story on oversight subtitled “Massive Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Goes Unexamined”:
“Waste, mismanagement and corruption undermine America’s mission in Iraq,” the Senators said in their letter. “And in some instances, the failure of contractors to fulfill their obligations has jeopardized the health, welfare and safety of American troops and civilian personnel…
We ask that the Committee exercise similar oversight more broadly of the Iraqi reconstruction contracts to prevent further waste of precious tax payer dollars and to hold accountable those who misused Iraqi funds entrusted to U.S. government management.
…
The Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation is currently looking into one example of contractor abuse involving allegations that U.S. troops were exposed to contaminated water in Iraq. We ask that the Committee exercise similar oversight more broadly of the Iraqi reconstruction contracts to prevent further waste of precious tax payer dollars and to hold accountable those who misused Iraqi funds entrusted to U.S. government management.
It was sent to Susan Collins, chairwoman of the HSGAC which is the parent of the PSI, chaired by Norm Coleman. It’s the PSI, as Leiberman noted, that was asked to exercise more broad oversight in Iraq.
Lieberman pleads for more oversight in and then turns around and “praises” Coleman’s work on oversight on the campaign trail. Whoops. Did they think the press and bloggers would simply forget?
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