Ames Tribune “disappointed” in Grassley

It is clear that many Iowans have strong opinions about Charles Grassley and what he is doing in regards to the health care reform bill. The Ames Tribune editorial staff has an opinion. As you will see in this post, the Tribune is “disappointed” in Grassley. You may read about their disappointments and decide if you agree with the Tribune writers or are one of the voters who voted for Grassley and expect him to listen to your opinions not just those who have the good fortune of writing their opinions in an Iowa newspaper.

http://www.amestrib.com/articles/2009/08/13/ames_tribune/opinion/editorials/doc4a843b46548cb006329816.txt

Grassley walking a tightrope
This editorial was intended to commend Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley for his work on health care reform on the Senate Finance Committee and for his principled stance above the noise and rhetoric that have characterized public debate so far.

But that was before Grassley spent Wednesday at four town hall meetings around Iowa where he joined in the fear-mongering chorus of “pull the plug on Grandma.”

We’re disappointed, Senator.

We have watched with growing dismay as members of Congress trying to discuss health care reform with their constituents have been shouted down, all useful discourse silenced.

We have watched with growing alarm the range of lies and ignorance presented as truth about health care and the bills working their way through Congressional committees — everything from “death panels” deciding who lives and dies to protesters insisting that Medicare is not a government health care program.

Grassley knows that none of the bills under consideration include government intervention in end-of-life decisions. The provision in the House bill calls for reimbursement for having a discussion about end-of-life care with your doctor. That’s all. It doesn’t require writing a living will, even though that’s a good idea. It doesn’t mandate having this conversation when you are actually at the end of your life, as Grassley seems to believe. It doesn’t mandate having this conversation at all. It just allows Medicare to pay for your doctor’s time if you decide to talk about it.

The atmosphere surrounding one of the most pressing issues we face as a society has become so poisoned that partisans on both sides of the political spectrum are calling for our representatives to stop talking to each other, too.
From the left comes the call for Democrats to use their majority status to ram through whatever bill they want. From the right, an ideological recalcitrance that says no to any and all Democratic ideas. Grassley himself has been criticized by members of his own party for his willingness to work with Democrats and comments from the mostly supportive crowds Wednesday suggested he might be voted out if he continues to work toward a bipartisan solution.

Grassley is the top-ranked Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. The committee is trying to hammer out a health care reform bill. Grassley, in working with his Democratic colleagues on the committee, is doing the job Iowa sent him to Washington to do.

Moreover, until Wednesday, he was demonstrating that people who disagree still can work together and do not have to sink to fear-mongering, no matter how much that might please their base.

One doesn’t need to agree with Grassley to appreciate his Finance Committee efforts. For example, The Tribune favors a robust, competitive public health insurance option; Grassley opposes it.

And we understand the tightrope Grassley is on between the job he went to Washington to do and the increasingly critical voters who sent him there.

We urge Grassley to focus on the former.