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American Morning
Compromise Version of Patients Bill of Rights Worked Out Yesterday
Aired August 02, 2001 - 11:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: With the Republican-controlled House about ready to debate and vote on a Patients' Bill of Rights, a compromise version that President Bush worked out late yesterday, with Congressman Norwood, is generating plenty of this morning. So let's talk about that, the politics of medicine, and some difficult medicine perhaps for some politicians to swallow.
Ron Brownstein is a columnist for "The Los Angeles Times." he joins us from our Washington bureau. Good to see you again. Thanks for coming in today.
What do you make of this development that we've seen here between Congressman Norwood and President Bush on this. And as I understand it, Congressman Norwood was actually going over to meet with President Bush as his colleagues were back in the House still discussing strategy on this matter.
RON BRONWSTEIN, "L.A. TIMES": There is only so often these moderate House Republicans or moderate Senate Republicans feel they can break from President Bush. President Bush has a 90 percent approval rating among Republicans nationwide. His numbers among the public overall go up and down, but it's rock solid among Republicans.
And there's an underlying reality here. You know, you've got a series of votes this year, where House Republicans have sort of bolted from the White House, or chafed at their direction on environmental or energy issues. And you saw yesterday on these energy votes, the same kind of pattern you're seeing on the patients rights, which is that they don't want be in a position of consistently or usually opposing him, and they're in a very tough spot on some of these issues. And I think Norwood felt a lot of pressure not to have defeat for the president on this issue.
HARRIS: All right, so what kind of signal does this send then to the moderates?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, we'll have to see how the vote goes today. I mean, the assumption is, is that the Norwood deal with Bush will carry a majority of the House, and it may well. The supporters of the original approach, which did pass the Senate, and its worth mentioning, did pass the House once before, with 68 Republican votes, still feel they have an outside shot at getting the votes. The message it sends to the moderates I think is that they are in a crucial position, on the one hand, where they have a lot of leverage over the White House and their leadership. But they are also vulnerable, because of what I said, they don't want to be in a position of opposing the president too much, and he has some leverage over them. To me, the point is that no one really has a consistent upper hand in Washington. Democrats may have thought that after Jeffords switched, and with some of the House Republicans bolting from the White House on earlier votes this spring, that maybe they were developing a sort of operational control of Congress. It's not there. It's Not there for Bush either. Both sides are on a case-by-case basis.
HARRIS: So the landscape here is decidedly unsettled then. Look, with that being case then, can you look and tell us in your mind then whether or not this was a big win for President Bush or not?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, it is a big win for President Bush, because I think the prospect of a patients' bill of rights similar to what passed the Senate passed the House put him in a similar position. He doesn't want to sign it. He's basically said he will veto it. And yet it is something that a majority of the public supports.
What this does and what the vote in the House and energy does is the same thing, it strengthens the president's hand in the inevitable conference committee with the Senate, which is going to produce legislation on both fronts further to the left of what he refers further away what he prefers. Having the House gives with him gives him more leverage in those conference committees. And for the first time really in a long time, you're going to have conference committees that matter, where the Senate and House are going to have very different approaches on these issues, and they're going to figure out whether or not they can find a realistic compromise. It's possible you may see stalemate, even after two chambers pass different versions of both the energy and the patient' rights bill.
HARRIS: Yes, we're going to sit on the outside and wonder, the entire world could possibly change inside those conference committees.
Ron Brownstein, thanks much. Appreciate the insight as well. Take care.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.
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