The Drama Plays Out
Passage of the new Medicare law was nearly as dramatic as a Shakespeare tragedy. Take a look at how the drama played out, turning a bad bill into a bad law.
- Democrats aren't players: From the start, Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA), chair of the House/Senate conference committee, barred most of the Democratic conferees from participating in the deliberations. That guaranteed that the GOP would get the bill they wanted, with little input from Democrats.
- AARP enters, stage right: Just when it looked as though the conference committee would be unable to agree on a final bill, top House and Senate GOP leaders jumped in and crafted their own version. AARP joined with the White House and threw their combined weight behind the "compromise," making a House and Senate vote inevitable.
- Script learned overnight: The final bill came up for a vote on the House floor just one day after members of Congress received the 678-page document. Few had time to read the bill before voting.
- Hastert plays to empty house: Even with the help of AARP and the White House, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) had trouble getting the votes of conservative Republicans. They balked at covering drugs for seniors and demanded full-scale privatization of Medicare. After an all-night session, Hastert was forced to keep the vote open for an unprecedented three hours (it's normally 15 minutes) while he struggled to get the votes he needed to win. After a night of twisting arms and making promises, he finally got his vote at 6 a.m.: 220 for the bill, 215 against — largely along party lines.
- Senate vote is anti-climax: After the bill succeeded in the House, a Senate vote in favor of the bill was inevitable. An effort by Democrats to sustain a filibuster — which would have blocked the bill from coming to the Senate floor — ultimately failed. The bill passed the Senate 54 to 44.
- Greatest show on earth: Not even the Rose Garden was a big enough stage for signing the Medicare bill into law. The White House PR machine arranged for President Bush to sign the bill at DAR Constitution Hall, one of the largest theatrical venues in Washington. There, before a grateful audience of drug and insurance industry lobbyists (and a small number of seniors supplied by AARP), the President made his mark on Medicare.