Could the American Hotel & Lodging Association have picked a better week to hold the Legislative Action Summit? I don’t think so.
The annual summit held in Washington, D.C. this week came as President Obama ordered a health care answer from Congress. And then just for good measure on Tuesday, the ending day of LAS, a Tea Party rally was held next door to the Russell Senate Office Building where Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) addressed the AH&LA members.
As you might imagine, health care played a big role in the speech the 2008 Republican presidential candidate gave to an audience that, like the Tea Partiers outside, appeared to be strongly anti-reform.
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Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) goes into the audience to better hear a question asked by a LAS audience member
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Speaking in Caucus Room 325—the same room in which hearings over the Teapot Dome scandal, McCarthy and Watergate occurred—McCain said most Americans would rather the administration focus on job creation instead of health care because the costs of reform would be too high.
“The danger the Democrats and the administration has is that for the first time in history … a major reform is being enacted without bipartisan support,” he said.
McCain also referred to the Tea Party happening outside.
“Do not underestimate the intelligence or the anger of the American people,” McCain said.
“The Tea Party is representative of their anger. They believe the country is broken in many respects.”
A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll released this week shows that 48 percent of people see the proposed changes to health care as a bad idea, while 36 percent say it's a good idea.
McCain said in addition to jobs, another pressing concern is loosening the credit markets so small businesses once again have access to loans.
“It’s terrible that small businesses can’t get loans,” he said. “Wall Street is doing fine—congratulations. People are mad as hell on Main Street.
“The same people who caused this collapse are the same people who are getting rich today.”
Lincoln speaks
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Tea Party members rally outside the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., where Sens. John McCain (R-Arizona) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas) would later address health care.
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Also appearing during the luncheon was Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas), who has spoken out against changes to the health care system.
She said she has worked with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) to include in the reform package a system that would allow entrepreneurs and independent contractors to pool together in order to negotiate competitive health insurance rates.
Lincoln is against the idea of reconciliation, a maneuver that would get around a health care filibuster. She also believes “something will get done” as it relates to reform.
Unions
The Employee Free Choice Act was also addressed by McCain. The act would make it easier for workers to form unions by enabling one to form once a majority of workers sign cards of authorization, thus bypassing secret-ballot organizing. The measure also would impose mandatory arbitration for first-contract disputes and increase the penalties on companies that violate workers’ rights.
He believed the measure could be enacted someday, though it currently appears to be a long way from being signed into law.
“I don’t think they’re going to give up on it,” he said, referring to unions. “They will try to get appointees to the (National Labor Relations Board) that will accomplish the same goals.”
He added, “The battle is not over.”
