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Lawmakers face angry crowds on health care
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-12 10:13
LEBANON, Pennsylvania: Jeers and taunts drowned out Democrats calling for a health care overhaul at town halls Tuesday, and one lawmaker said a swastika was spray-painted at his office as debate turned to noisy confrontation over President Barack Obama's plan. The president himself was treated more respectfully. The bitter sessions underscored the challenge for the administration as it tries to win over an increasingly skeptical public on the costly and far-reaching task of revamping the nation's health care system. Desperate to stop a hardening opposition, the White House created a website to dispel what it says are smears and House Democrats set up a health care "war room" out of Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's office to help lawmakers answer questions. At a crowded community college in Pennsylvania, Republican-turned-Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter heard from speaker after speaker who accused him of trampling on their constitutional rights, adding to the federal deficit or allowing government bureaucrats to take over health care.
"My children and grandchildren are going to pay for this," said another. "One day God will stand before you and judge you!" shouted a man before security guards approached and he left the room. Specter gamely tried to explain his positions - and on occasion mediate among shouting constituents - saying he wouldn't vote for a bill that adds to the deficit. He also said he wouldn't support a bill that extends coverage to illegal immigrants. None of the bills in Congress would provide health insurance to illegal immigrants. One woman tried to make it personal for Specter, alleging that the Democrats' plan would not provide care to a man in his 70s with cancer, like Specter had. "You're here because of the plan we have now," she said. Specter, 79, who has battled cancer twice since 2005, showed some heat at that. "Well, you're just not right," he said. He called her claim a "vicious, malicious" rumor. The passions of the crowd illustrated the problems for Democratic lawmakers around the country as they try to use the monthlong August recess to promote Obama's agenda. There's not a single plan to promote, which Specter later told reporters made his job harder, along with the complexity of the issue. The House bill is more than 1,000 pages. And, Specter said, "The objectors have gotten ahead of the curve." Asked why, he cited talk radio, among other factors. |
