Really? I guess it comes down to "if you ain't elected, you can't govern".
Jim..
http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2009/10/01/harkin-sees-no-gop-at-senate-bill-table/
Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin said today Republicans will not be at the table when the Senate merges the health-care bills from two committees before sending one to the floor.
Harkin, a Democrat and chairman of one of the committees, also said any bill that passes Congress will include a government-run insurance option for Americans to buy.
We will have a bill on the presidents desk before Christmas, a health-reform bill. It will have a lot of good stuff in it. It will have a lot of prevention and wellness programs in there that Ive been fighting for, Harkin told reporters in a morning conference call. And it will have a public option.
The question of if it doesnt isnt even an option, he added.
Harkin was elected chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee this month after the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Harkin had a lead role in writing prevention language in the health-care bill passed by that panel in July.
Asked whether Republicans would be at the table when Harkins committees bill is merged with legislation pending in the Senate Finance Committee, Harkin said no.
No, this will be a proposal by the Democrats to bring a bill on the floor. And thats what I have said before, that the people of this country I keep saying the people of this country pretty overwhelmingly elected Barack Obama last fall and to make changes, he said. The people of this country overwhelmingly elected Democrats to the House and Senate.
We should be proposing the changes to be made, he added.