In voting for health bill, Warner and Webb cite lower costs

Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Virginia, said yesterday that he voted in favor of the health-care overhaul because he thinks it will lower health-care costs.

“The status quo is bankrupting our nation and hurting our ability to compete in a global economy,“ he said in a statement.

Yesterday at 1:16 a.m., Warner and Virginia’s senior senator, Jim Webb, also a Democrat, recorded their votes to advance the legislation.

In the end, the Senate’s 58 Democrats and two independents voted to prevent a filibuster and move the bill toward likely passage before Christmas.

Like Warner, Webb said he thinks the measure will lower costs. But Webb was critical of the process, including President Barack Obama’s role.

“The Obama administration declared health-care reform to be a major domestic objective, but they did not offer the Congress a bill,“ Webb said in a statement.

Webb said the debate “often overwhelmed the substance” of fixing the problem.

“Legislation was developed independently through five different congressional committees, three in the House and two in the Senate,“ he added. “This resulted in a large amount of contradictory information and a great deal of confusion among our public.“

Warner and Webb said they thought that late changes in the Senate bill improved it. Warner cited the dropping of the public option.

But Warner, who had joined other freshmen senators in successfully offering amendments to the Senate bill, warned against future cost increases.

“This legislation represents a strong start, but it will require that we stay focused on reducing costs as we begin to transition away from a health-care delivery system that is based on volume and towards a system that rewards quality,“ Warner said.

Neither senator said he made a deal with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to secure a vote in return for something for Virginia.

Webb said he will examine the conference report—after differences between the House of Representatives and the Senate are ironed out. If the negotiators make significant departures from what he considered improvements in the Senate bill, he reserves the right to oppose the resulting bill.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, praised the president’s work and commended Webb, Warner and the other 58 senators.

“We are now on the verge of the biggest domestic policy breakthrough since the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s,“ he said.

Kaine said that in Virginia, the passage of comprehensive health-care reform “would ensure access to quality, affordable health care for 1.2 million uninsured Virginians, bring security to the millions of people who are already insured, and bring down the cost of health care for all of us.“

Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, which is opposed to the bill, said the organization would continue to fight it. Taking a shot at the wheeling and dealing that secured passage in the Senate, Phillips said Webb was the last Democrat to publicly announce support “and we will hold him accountable for caving.“

Rep. Robert J. Wittman, R-lst, urged Democrats to scrap the bill and start all over again.

“Never in recent history has something which affects each and every citizen been crafted by a single party without a true debate and amendment process” he said.

Source: http://www2.wsls.com/sls/news/state_regional/article/in_voting_for_health_bill_warner_and_webb_cite_lower_costs/70031/

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