Here's the entire press release, which has not yet been posted on Murphy's website:
Today, Congressman Scott Murphy (NY-20) voted no on H.R. 3962, the Affordable Healthcare for America Act.
"I spent the past six months traveling the 20th District holding more than 100 events to have an open and honest discussion about health care with the people of our district. As your Congressman, I firmly believe that health care reform is critical to strengthening our nation. However, in order to achieve this goal, we must address the fundamentally flawed system that has led to skyrocketing costs, bankrupt families and extremely profitable insurance companies. For these reasons, I voted no on H.R. 3962 tonight.
"This bill makes a number of important reforms, which I wholeheartedly support including the elimination of the lifetime caps on insurance benefits and the pre-existing condition exclusion, invests in prevention and primary care, creates a health insurance exchange to force insurance companies to compete and offers a public option for people who want to get away from for-profit insurance companies.
"However, I have consistently said that any bill that Congress passes must curb costs and keep health care affordable in the long term. During these difficult economic times, an unacceptably high price tag will stress our already overstretched federal budget and place even more burdens on our hard working individuals, families and small businesses. We need to fix the system now, and not put off the hard choices for another generation. Furthermore, I am deeply frustrated by the last minute addition of over $50 billion in taxes on the two largest private employers in the 20th District - medical device manufacturers and paper mills.
"As a small businessman, I am also concerned that H.R. 3962 falls short of making health insurance affordable for the small businesses of the 20th District; it fails to reform the fundamentally flawed incentives in the system, which continue to drive costs upward; and it fails to restrain the monopolistic practices of private insurers, which allow them to continue to increase premiums already weighing on families and small businesses.
"I remain committed to the goal of providing quality, affordable health care and I will continue to fight to change the broken health care system for America's families."
The whopper is bolded above; Murphy clearly implies that manufacturers with facilities in NY-20 have been singled out for a massive tax increase.
Again, I'm no expert, but that cannot be true. Presumably Murphy's referring to this from the official summary of the bill -- an 8 percent of payroll tax on businesses with more than $500,000 of annual payroll who do not provide and subsidize health insurance, "to help cover expenses of employees who seek coverage through the Exchange."
As far as I know, most if not all of the paper mills and medical device makers in NY-20 currently provide decent health insurance benefits to their employees. The payroll tax part of the bill provides a needed incentive for them, and for all other large employers, to continue to do so -- it does not impose "over $50 billion in taxes on the two largest private employers in the 20th."
Murphy won office in a very close special election in April. His victory would not have happened without the strong support of labor and progressive activists.
Murphy will need a similar level of support in 2010, when he will face a well-financed challenge by someone who will oppose Obama on everything and when NY-20 will be one of 435 House contests on the ballot.
Murphy's "no" vote on HCR will dispirit many of his supporters from earlier this year, and do nothing to convince non-supporters to change their minds.
Murphy will hold a press conference tomorrow about his vote. He'd better come up with a more convincing explanation than he offered today, because appealing to people who didn't vote for him this year will not help him next year.
UPDATED/CORRECTED: Informed Daily Kos commenters note that the House HCR bill includes a 2.5 percent excise tax on some medical devices and the revocation of a tax credit for a wood-byproduct-based fuel used by paper mills.
So Murphy has somewhat more of a case than I thought at first.
But not enough, IMHO, to oppose the first real chance at health insurance reform in 16 years. |
