Thank You Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky

I've always wanted to thank Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (D-PA) for her courageous deciding vote for President Clinton's 1993 deficit reduction bill. Her Republican colleagues jeered her as she walked down the aisle to cast her vote with shouts of "Bye, Bye Marjorie!" Her crime -- voting for the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 that reduced the FY94-FY98 deficits by an estimated $496 b., with $241 b. of tax increases and $255 b. of spending cuts. The bill capped a 12-year deficit reduction effort, leading to the budget surpluses of FY98-FY01. She paid the political price, losing her seat in suburban Philadelphia after her first term in office, but she set the U.S. economy on course for its strongest decade since the 1960s.

 

Now that we face the hard choices on reining in 10% of GDP deficits and runaway health care costs, who in today's House of Representatives will provide the deciding vote in favor of the Senate health reform bill, H.R.3590? Whoever it is may lose their seat. Charlie Cook recently said, "If current trends continue, the Republicans could take the House." That's what happened in 1994. As then, there is no easy bipartisan solution to our health care and deficit problems. The Senate version of H.R.3590 is flawed to say the least, but, in my opinion, it's a lot better than doing nothing. We have to attack inefficient and ineffective health care and unsustainable deficits. If we shy away, we will suffer prolonged low growth and high unemployment. Sometime before the start of the Easter recess on March 26, 2010, we'll find out whether another Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky can be found.