Bipartisanship

 As I sit here writing, I have the White House Health Care Summit running in the background. This is the meeting where President Obama invited Congressional leaders to sit down at the table in front of the American public and talk about how to find common ground over what has become a very divisive, political debate about healthcare.

So far, I am hearing the Republicans say "start over" and Democrats say "we can't wait" ad nauseum. I say, "Lock them in the room, get out a piece of paper and pencils, and start writing."

UPDATE: Roy Blunt says he will vote against the jobs bill.

In a series of tweets this morning (here, here and here), Ed Martin is criticizing GOP Senators Kit Bond, Scott Brown, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and George Voinovich for their support of a new bipartisan job creation package. 

The bill, which passed a procedural vote the Senate yesterday 62-30 , includes a number of job creation measures that earned it bipartisan support.

Another fascinating tidbit from Jo Mannies' story about the Scott Rupp v. Cynthia Davis matchup in the second senate district:

But Davis adds that she's also concerned by what she views as too much camaraderie in the Senate between Republicans and Democrats. "The Senate has become a big fraternity club," she said, where members' "loyalty to each other" outweighs their partisan differences.

"You can't tell who's a Republican or Democrat," Davis complained. If she wins, she said, that will change.

More gridlock and petty partisanship, please.

Reps. Jason Kander (D-Kansas City) and Tim Flook (R-Liberty) met with the press at the Capitol this morning to talk about their bipartisan ethics reform bill, intended to limit the use of political committees to obscure campaign donation trails. Their multi-part proposal makes it a felony to "transfer funds through political committees with the intent of masking the original source of money, would prohibit individuals from serving as the treasurer or deputy treasurer of multiple committees, and create disclosure requirements for "de facto lobbyists." 

From the presser:

At the press conference, Flook indicated that Speaker Ron Richard is at least somewhat supportive of the effort, and Kander said Minority Leader Paul LeVota may become a co-sponsore.

More coverage can be found here and here.

We've viewed Roy Blunt's recent claims of bipartisanship with a certain amount of suspicion, but today we're happy to congratulate Blunt and the GOP elite for their success in forming a broad, bipartisan coalition.

This afternoon, members of both parties joined together to crush the GOP leadership's "budget alternative"  by a 2-1 margin. The roster of Republicans voting against the Blunt-approved "budget alternative" ranges from GOP moderates like our own Jo Ann Emerson to the very conservative Ron Paul (no foolin').

Apparently, the prospect of one more budget bill with silly numbers, tax cuts for the wealthy, cuts to vital social programs and an elimination of the economic recovery package was too much for even some in Blunt's own party.

Congrats on the bipartisan part, though.