|
from an article by Ed Koch -
Finally, I am fearful that radicals in the Democratic Party who support programs such as healthcare and education reform that I have supported over the years will seek to impose those programs by fiat without congressional hearings and laws, by inserting them in the stimulus legislation. On what do I base that fear? Here are two news reports.
A Jan. 28 New York Times article by Robert Pear stated, “The stimulus bill working its way through Congress is not just a package of spending increases and tax cuts intended to jolt the nation out of recession. For Democrats, it is also a tool for rewriting the social contract with the poor, the uninsured and the unemployed, in ways they have long yearned to do. With little notice and no public hearings, House Democrats would create a temporary new entitlement allowing workers getting unemployment checks to qualify for Medicaid, the heath program for low-income people. Spouses and children could also receive benefits, no matter how much money the family had. In addition, the stimulus package would offer a hefty subsidy to help laid-off workers retain the same health plans they had from their former employers. Altogether, the economic recovery bill would speed $127 billion over the next two and a half years to individuals and states for healthcare alone, a fact that has Republicans fuming that the stimulus package is a back door to universal health coverage . . . As Congress rushes to inject cash into a listless economy, it is setting aside many of the restraints that have checked new domestic spending for more than a decade. The White House said the changes contemplated by Congress would provide coverage for nearly 8.5 million newly uninsured people who had lost their jobs and would protect Medicaid for many more whose eligibility would otherwise be at risk.”
On the same day, Jan. 28, also in The New York Times, Sam Dillon reported, “The economic stimulus plan that Congress has scheduled for a vote on Wednesday would shower the nation’s school districts, child care centers and university campuses with $150 billion in new federal spending, a vast two-year investment that would more than double the Department of Education’s current budget. The proposed emergency expenditures on nearly every realm of education, including school renovation, special education, Head Start and grants to needy college students, would amount to the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II. Critics and supporters alike said that by its sheer scope, the measure could profoundly change the federal government’s role in education, which has traditionally been the responsibility of state and local government.”
Although I support the ultimate goals of the new Democratic congressional majority for significant changes in our society, I do not want those changes imposed through stealth. I want them debated and voted on by a Congress able to sort out the good from the bad in shaping legislation. That is not what is happening now. According to Pear’s New York Times article, “Democrats said the current economic crisis did not allow time for public hearings on the legislation.”
For me, this is a form of tyranny and is not acceptable. The ends here do not justify the means. There is no need or excuse for stealth.
|