Jim Ramstad (R) lays the proverbial smack down on the GOP for its current "Just Say NO" stance and warned that by digging in their feet they will find themselves in the political wilderness for a long time to come.
My former Republican colleagues in the U.S. House are headed to the wilderness for another 40 years if they continue their current path.
Following the lead of extremists like Rush Limbaugh is a prescription for disaster. But that’s the course Republican leaders set when their whip declared the House Republican strategy will be to “Just Say No” to President Obama.
To see the folly of their strategy, Republican members need look no further than the Third Congressional District of Minnesota, which I was proud to represent for 18 years. In 2004, former President George W. Bush won our district by three percentage points. And then, base politics from the Karl Rove playbook became even more pronounced.
Four years later, President Obama swept our district by six points, a nine-point swing.
Thoughtful, discerning voters are sick and tired of the politics of division. They want both sides to work together in a bipartisan, pragmatic and common-sense way on the critical problems facing our country.
It’s time for my former colleagues to put right-wing base politics aside and work with the new Administration to grow the economy, create jobs, reform health care, education and energy policy, as well as successfully prosecute the war on terror.
Otherwise voters will continue to trust President Obama by an astonishing 35 points more than they trust congressional Republicans on the most pressing issues of the day.
That can only portend a long stay in the wilderness for the loyal opposition.
Jim Ramstad, who represented Minnesota’s Third District from 1991 to 2009, is now a resident fellow at the Kennedy School at Harvard University.
I always knew there was a reason I liked Ramstad...
Republican spokesperson and publisher of Politics in Minnesota, Sarah Janecek, is on record with some predictions for Tuesday and they don't look good. If these predictions come to pass, then there will only be two Republicans left in the delegation Minnesota sends to Congress. Only Norm Coleman and John Kline will remain in this post 2008 election world.
On the race in the 3rd District:
DFLer Ashwin Madia narrowly bests GOP former Rep. Erik Paulsen mostly because the 3rd District Republican party scared better, more ideologically moderate GOP candidates out of the race. This is a painful loss for the state GOP which has proudly held this seat for decades with strong, smart, social issues-moderate leadership in Bill Frenzel and Jim Ramstad.
This is a clear shot at the choice of Erik Paulsen who is clearly not in the mold of moderate, Jim Ramstad. Paulsen represents the continued race to the right that has so damaged the Republican Party in Minnesota. Talking to people that know Ramstad well, it is clear that it is the race to the right which drove Ramstad to leave.
Janecek adds this caveat:
The good news for Republicans going forward is that because the Democratic National Congressional Committee spent so much time and effort on this race, Madia will be beholden to casting liberal party-line votes, making 2010 an attractive run for Republicans who opted out in 2008.
Not to bust the chops of Ms. Janecek but I believe it is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
On the race in the 6th District:
DFL challenger Elwyn Tinklenberg beats one-term GOP incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and sends Chris Matthews a bottle of Dom. What were Bachmann's advisers thinking by allowing her to go on MSNBC with Matthews? What was Bachmann thinking by using "anti-American" in her words? Channeling former GOP WI Sen. Joseph McCarthy was red meat on a platter for the left. Let the 2010 GOP fun begin on who will run against Tinklenberg in a seat he should never have won.
I make no predictions but Republicans appear to be bracing for another bad night in Minnesota politics!
Congressman Jim Ramstad addressed the Education Minnesota Representative Convention this weekend and gave an excellent speech about partisan politics and the need to support education. In the second part of the speech, Mr. Ramstad discusses the work he has been doing on mental health parity and his memories of Paul Wellstone.
We need more Republicans like Mr. Ramstad:
Unfortunately, they are being driven from the party and punished for voting their conscience. There is a significant lesson here for Democrats. We cannot be a party that kicks out its moderates. We must embrace them and encourage them as they show that we are a party of inclusion and not a party of exclusion. They show that we are a party that encourages dissent and independent thought in its membership. If we do that, the larger population will see our message of inclusion and the Republican Party will be increasingly relegated to the fringe of society.
Last week the United States House of Representatives took up the issue of mental health parity with the PAUL WELLSTONE MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTION EQUITY ACT OF 2007. This bill, the work of Congressman Jim Ramstad (R) and Patrick Kennedy (D), requires health plans to treat mental health on an equal footing with all other health issues. Four of the eight members of the Minnesota delegation in Congress spoke on the bill.
Unfortunately, I was not able to get the video of the bills sponsor, Jim Ramstad, as it appears to be corrupted in the C-Span archives. As soon as I am able to solve the problem, I will have it up on youtube.
Thank You to C-Span for quickly fixing the problem, and allowing the people of Minnesota to view Mr. Ramstad and his impassioned speech on the need for Mental Health Parity!
Text of his speech:
Mr. Speaker, the issue before us is not just another public policy issue, it's a matter of life or death for 54 million Americans suffering the ravages of mental health and for 22 million Americans suffering from chemical addiction.
Last year alone, 300,000 people were denied access to addiction treatment, most had health insurance, and 33,000 people committed suicide from untreated depression. Over 150,000 of our fellow Americans died as a direct result of chemical addiction.
On top of the tragic loss of lives, Mr. Speaker, untreated addiction and mental illness cost our economy over $550 billion last year. According to the Wall Street Journal, untreated depression alone cost our businesses $70 billion in lost productivity last year.
So it's ludicrous for the opponents to come here and argue that parity will cost businesses $1.5 billion, as my friend from Washington, member of the Rules Committee, did. If you don't believe the Wall Street Journal, certainly those on our side of the aisle, what do you believe? Cost businesses $70 billion, just depression, untreated depression alone.
Mr. Speaker, all the empirical data, including all the actuarial studies, show that equity for mental health and addiction treatment will save literally billions of dollars nationally. At the same time, it will not raise premiums more than two-tenths of 1 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That's our own CBO numbers. So, I don't know where these people are getting these numbers, these inflated cost figures. Pulling them out of thin air is the only thing I can surmise.
The CBO says it will not raise premiums more than two-tenths of 1 percent. In other words, for the price of a cheap cup of coffee per month, several million Americans in health plans can receive treatment for chemical addiction and mental illness. And it's unfortunate, Mr. Speaker, that some opponents of this legislation have misrepresented the costs of enacting parity.
[Time: 18:15]
Mr. Speaker, I'm alive and sober today only because of the access I had to treatment back on July 31, 1981, when I woke up in a jail cell in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I'm living proof that treatment works and recovery is real.
But far too many people in our country don't have the same access to treatment that I had and other Members of Congress have also had. A major barrier for thousands of Americans is insurance discrimination against people in health plans who need treatment for mental illness or chemical addiction.
The legislation that my friend from Rhode Island, PATRICK KENNEDY, who has worked tirelessly on this legislation, who arranged for all 14 field hearings, who has been a real champion, this legislation that we have authored will end the discrimination by prohibiting health insurers from placing discriminatory restrictions on treatment for people with mental illness or addiction. In other words, no more inflatable deductibles or copayments that don't apply to physical diseases. No more limited treatment stays that don't apply to physical diseases. No more discrimination against people with mental illness or chemical addiction.
The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act simply provides equal treatment for diseases of the brain and the body. This legislation provides people in health plans with the same exact coverage that we as Members of Congress have and other Federal employees as well.
By the way, some of the exaggeration, some of the red herrings as to the use of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV are just beyond belief. The red herrings presented by opponents, caffeine addiction, sibling rivalry, jet lag, would not be subject to treatment because insurance plans can use ``medical necessity'' requirements. So let's not use bogus red herring arguments. Let's come with intellectually honest arguments if you're against this legislation.
Also, the DSM-IV is used for Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans health care. I wonder how many of you can go home and say, look, it's good enough [Page: H1298] for Members of Congress but it's not good enough for you, constituents. I don't think anybody in this body would dare do that nor should we. If it's good enough for Members of Congress, it's good enough for the American people.
Mr. Speaker, PATRICK KENNEDY and I have traveled the country from one end to the other, holding 14 field hearings. We've heard literally hundreds of stories of human suffering, broken families, tragic deaths, shattered dreams all because of insurance companies not providing access to adequate treatment for mental illness and addiction. I don't have time, Mr. Speaker, to recite some of these horror stories, but PATRICK and I could share hundreds and hundreds of horror stories caused by discrimination in treatment for mentally ill and addicted people that we heard in these 14 States.
Mr. Speaker, it's time to end the discrimination against people who need treatment for mental illness and addiction. It's time to prohibit health insurers from placing discriminatory barriers to treatment. It's time to pass the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act. The American people, Mr. Speaker, cannot wait any longer.
John Kline (R), in what can only be taken as a slap in the face to his colleague Jim Ramstad and to the late Senator Paul Wellstone, tried to replace the bill with his own version of mental health parity which appears to offer little in the way of parity.
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