Health Care Reform Twenty Years From Now
Posted on March 16, 2009 at 7:53 amTime Magazine reports on Rep. Jim Cooper’s efforts to get the country moved away from employer-based health coverage:
Still, Wyden and Cooper’s plan is considered a long shot. The political wisdom in Washington suggests that for any proposal to actually stand a chance, it would have to build on the existing employer-based system. For much the same reason, few believe that “single payer” health care — a government-financed system similar to Medicare — will be given any serious consideration. As one Administration official put it in describing the Wyden plan: “A lot of people think this is where the system should be 20 years from now, but no one see how it can be there two years from now.”
Despite those doubts, Wyden and Cooper continue to lobby the committee chairmen and ranking members of the five panels that have jurisdiction over the issue on Capitol Hill. “We want to be team players,” Wyden says. But they also note that time is quickly running out if lawmakers are to meet their self-imposed deadline of having a bill passed out of both chambers before the August recess. So they are watching the informal negotiations that are underway on both sides of the Capitol carefully. All they need, they say, is the right opening. Or at least a seat at the table.
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Getting It Coming And Going
Posted on March 2, 2009 at 2:07 pmJim Cooper gets street cred with fiscal hawks and conservatives for voting once against the stimulus but then gets to claim credit for the goodies of the revamped stimulus he supported:
Acting to strengthen the health care safety net for the growing number of Americans in need, President Barack Obama and Representative Jim Cooper today announced the release of $2,273,593 authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will support two health centers in Tennessee. These health centers will help people in need — many with no health insurance — obtain access to the comprehensive primary and preventive health care services and create 80 jobs in Tennessee.
“We have acted quickly to put Recovery Act dollars to good use in communities across America,” said President Obama. “The construction and expansion of health centers will help create thousands of new jobs and provide critical assistance to Americans who have lost their job and their health care. Health centers, primary care, and prevention are at the heart of my plan for an affordable, accessible health care system.”
Health centers in the following communities will receive support:
United Neighborhood Health Services in Nashville, TN
Hardin County Regional Health Center in Savannah, TN
Coop Likes The Ugly
Posted on February 27, 2009 at 8:33 amNashville’s congressman on the Obama budget:
“This is more honest than any budget in many, many years,” Mr. Cooper said. “That also means it’s also ugly. I welcome the honesty. I think it’s time for Americans to grapple with fundamental problems and not pretend that wars are free and things like that.”
UPDATE: Theobold
Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Gave Extensively To Republicans
Posted on February 23, 2009 at 8:09 am
It would appear that the Tennessee Democratic Party’s new treasurer is not the only Democrat of note with a history of contributing money to both Democratic and Republican causes.
Post Politics has learned that Ward Cammack, one of two Democrats actively campaigning to succeed Governor Phil Bredesen in 2010, has given to a myriad of Tennessee Republican candidates starting in 1979 with a donation to Senator Howard Baker’s 1980 Presidential run.
While Cammack has supported Congressman Jim Cooper with financial donations steadily throughout his career, a large majority of his donations have gone to Tennessee Republican candidates for federal office. In 1994, the year of the Republican Revolution, Cammack gave extensively to both Bill Frist and Fred Thompson who were victorious in grabbing both of Tennessee’s U.S. Senate seats that year.
Cammack also gave heavily to Lamar Alexander contributing to both his Presidential run in 1996 as well as his initial 2002 Senate run. In 2008, Cammack gave heavily to Alexander’s opponent Bob Tuke.
Cammack’s most recent Republican donation was in late 2005 when he contributed $500 to Bob Corker’s 2006 Senate primary campaign though Cammack tells Post Politics he ultimately voted for Corker’s opponent Harold Ford, Jr.
In discussing his party shift, Cammack cannot point to any “Road to Damacus” moment but admits that he is “clearly a convert” to the Democratic cause and credits the Bush years for his shift in worldview.
“Everything has changed. A lot of things people thought they had to protect, be it money or a set of so-called moral beliefs, have proved illusory,” Cammack explains. “All we really have is each other.”
Cammack, whose first Democratic vote for President was cast last fall for Barack Obama, said it was the exclusionary tactics of the GOP which led him to begin to question the staunch Republicanism he had learned as a child.
“Eventually you just have to ask: What is this all about? Why are we marginalizing people like this?” Cammack explains.
When asked whether he could pinpoint whether it was Republican policies on social issues, economic issues or foreign policy that ultimate let to his conversion, Cammack was unequivocal.
“All of the above,” replied Cammack.
Cammack does expect that some may be skeptical of his political past but insists that the Democratic Party is a “very comfortable skin for him.”
“Yes, I have given [money] to Republicans in the past and I have voted for Republicans in the past. I have never tried to hide that,” Cammack says. “But if you ask me if I believe in the Democratic Party, the answer is yes. Yes, I do.”
SEE ALSO: The Rotunda asks: “[I]s there a prominent Democrat expanding the tent of the party to reach the affluent white guys like Ward Cammack and Bill Freeman?”
Where Were Our Dogs At On The Stimulus?
Posted on February 6, 2009 at 10:09 amRep. Jim Cooper stood up and represented for the Blue Dogs standing tall against the House stimulus package passed last week.
However, all Tennessee Democrats in Congress (save Steve Cohen) are members of the Blue Dog Coalition yet Cooper was the only nay vote. Where were the others?
Under False Prentice
Posted on February 5, 2009 at 2:37 pmThe Tennessee Guerilla Women don’t understand why Nashville’s congressman is so conservative:
Jim Cooper (D-TN) still hasn’t answered my letter asking him why I should vote for him when he votes with Republicans. Cooper is my allegedly Democratic Rep.
Nashville is one of the state’s most liberal centers, and we have to get stuck with the likes of Jim Cooper? The best thing I can say about Jim Cooper is that he is not Bill Frist.
I’m gonna be honest. The Guerilla Women let me down with this post. The Guerilla Women are known for their bombastic rhetoric. They are known for their no-holds-barred attitude. When they go after folks, they go after them. Caution is thrown to the wind and, often, so is politeness.
So in this case, why no mention of Prentice Cooper?
Now, of course, throwing the Congressman’s segregationist father in his face for no apparent reason would be unfair and untoward. I’m not suggesting it should be done.
Clearly, the man was a product of his time and, being that the congressman was all of fifteen when Prentice died, the elder Cooper obviously had a limited amount of direct political influence on his son.
And the young Cooper, after all, supported (early) Barack Obama for President. Jim Cooper is impervious to this kind of attack. It wouldn’t work and would likely provoke backlash. I’m just curious why you never see it.
Haters and critics throw all sorts of bile at people whom they have disagreements with. They throw things that make no sense and have no bearing on the issue or conversation. But no one ever throws this.
Why not? Do they not know? Or do I need to have more confidence in the civility of our civil discourse?
Speaker Pelosi Takes A Pass On Rebutting Cooper On Liberadio(!)
Posted on at 1:07 pmOne half of the dynamic duo that exposed the open wound of Democratic politics by interviewing Jim Cooper shares her view of the still developing controversy.
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Up In Pelosi’s Grill
Posted on at 7:51 amThe Politico again reports that Liberadiogate just makes clear what role Rep. Jim Cooper will play in national politics for the next few years — Nancy Pelosi’s worst nightmare:
But whether he wants to talk about it or not, the radio incident thrusts Cooper into the very public role of burr in Pelosi’s saddle. Every party has its itches to scratch. Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake, a fiscal scold who crusades against earmarks, embarrassed GOP leaders over the years by highlighting projects they endorsed. North Carolina Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. became the Republican voice against the war in Iraq. Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint, in their own way, cause grief for their leaders.
Cooper now joins the ranks — but in reality, he’s been there before.
He locked horns with Hillary Clinton over health care reform in 1992 and 1993, during his first 12-year stint in the House, and he has questioned the readiness of his party to handle governing with a Democratic president. Late last year, he broke from many of his fellow fiscal conservatives in the Blue Dog Caucus to back California Rep. Henry A. Waxman for chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee.
But that Blue Dog Caucus remains his base of power in the House. In a Wall Street Journal interview earlier this year, Cooper said that if he and his fellow Blue Dogs “were to ally with the Republicans, we could swing any vote in the House of Representatives” — a not-so-subtle threat to any party leader.
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Shock Horror: Rep. Jim Cooper Is A Politician
Posted on at 7:21 amJeff Woods puts a recent controversy in historical context:
In 1994, when Cooper was running for the Senate, Bill Clinton was the president and wildly unpopular in Tennessee. Across the state, Cooper made a point of painting himself as a maverick, desperately distancing himself from the president. But then one evening, I watched Cooper give an interview on a black radio station in Nashville. Clinton remained very popular with blacks, if no one else, and Cooper told listeners, “I have voted with President Clinton 90 percent of the time.”
It was an audacious display of hypocrisy. Cooper plays the upright guardian of the public interest but he’s no different than most politicians, just a lot squirrelier. A big phony, he tailors what he says to suit his audience. That’s what he’s doing here. He wants to oppose wasteful spending, but he doesn’t want to buck the popular new president. He’s not agile enough to walk that tightrope.
Cooper Contro Reveals Larger Battle
Posted on February 4, 2009 at 4:12 pmEd Morrissey on the battle revealed by Liberadiogate:
Some have speculated that Barack Obama would have to go to war with Nancy Pelosi if he really wanted to push for bipartisanship on Capitol Hill. The stimulus package was the first and most critical piece of Obama’s domestic agenda, and Pelosi not only blocked Republicans from negotiating its terms, she filled it with non-stimulus spending that turned it into an omnibus appropriation bill, full of objectionable projects and embarrassing components, like contraceptive spending.
(TFJ: Red Dawn)
Cooper’s Comments To Liberadio(!) Continue To Stir Stew
Posted on at 2:08 pmPolitico has the developing story of the fallout regarding the remarks made by Rep. Cooper concerning his vote against the House stimulus package:
“Mr. Cooper has clarified those remarks,” she said, motioning to an aide, who handed out copies of Cooper’s statements.
Privately, people close to Pelosi said they weren’t surprised he would take a swipe at her – but said they had received back-channel assurances from the White House that the substance of his remarks was untrue.
And a senior House leadership aide scoffed at Cooper’s claim, suggesting the congressman was merely grandstanding.
“The idea that he didn’t get information or was kept in dark is just not true,” said the aide. “We sent out reams of information. He spoke at one of the caucuses [about the bill].”
Fired back a source close to Cooper: “If he were grandstanding, he could probably pick a more appropriate venue than a small-audience local radio show.”
Cooper has made little secret of his lack of regard for Pelosi’s leadership and has earned the enmity of her loyalists for his propensity to speak candidly.
You gonna take that Mary and Freddie?
UPDATE: Mary Mancini reports that Obama’s spokesman has been asked at a press briefing about the comments.
Rep. Cooper Says You Didn’t Hear What You Heard
Posted on at 11:55 amDavidson County’s congressman denies what you can plainly hear him say in this Liberadio(!) interview, that Obama’s people, in a subtle, unofficial way, sanctioned his vote against the stimulus package in the House:
“At no point did any member of President Obama’s staff encourage me to vote against the House economic recovery bill. I told them I believed that the bill had too much long-term spending and didn’t meet the president’s goal of getting 75% of the money into the economy within 18 months. After the conversation, I felt encouraged that the administration understood those concerns and shared my longstanding commitment to fiscal responsibility.”
Compare that with this:
Well, I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I actually got some quiet encouragement from the Obama folks for what I’m doing. They know its a messy bill and they wanted a clean bill.
Now, I got in terrible trouble with our leadership because they don’t care what’s in the bill, they just want it pass and they want it to be unanimous. They don’t mind the partisan fighting cause that’s what they are used to. In fact, they’re really good at it. And they’re a little bit worried about what a post-partisan future might look like.
If members actually had to read the bills and figure out whether they are any good or not. We’re just told how to vote. We’re treated like mushrooms most of the time.
SEE ALSO: Cooper continues damage control, belittles radio audience.
The Coop Is Loose
Posted on February 3, 2009 at 2:53 pmUPDATE: Cooper now says his words below don’t mean what you think.
With the withdrawal of Tom Daschle’s name from consideration for Health and Human Services chief, the obligatory speculation regarding whom the next nominee shall be necessarily follows.
Some folks like Howard Dean. Others have less controversial choices.
The Office of Management and Budget was, of course, the main job folks thought Congressman Jim Cooper would end up in if he chose to go to Washington. HHS, however, would not be a bad fit either, considering the congressman’s interest in healthcare.
And FYI for those of you who are operating under the misimpression that the Congressman is on the outs with the new administration for his vote against the stimulus need only to take a listen to Cooper’s interview yesterday with Liberadio(!):
Well, I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I actually got some quiet encouragement from the Obama folks for what I’m doing. They know its a messy bill and they wanted a clean bill.
Now, I got in terrible trouble with our leadership because they don’t care what’s in the bill, they just want it pass and they want it to be unanimous. They don’t mind the partisan fighting cause that’s what they are used to. In fact, they’re really good at it. And they’re a little bit worried about what a post-partisan future might look like.
If members actually had to read the bills and figure out whether they are any good or not. We’re just told how to vote. We’re treated like mushrooms most of the time.
Of course, while this is evidence that Coop is still working inside the proverbial Obama circle it is also more evidence why he would never, ever take a job with the administration.
Why go on the inside when, as an independent operator in Congress, he can serve his own agenda AND play good cop or bad cop for the Obama administration depending on the need?
UPDATES:
Politico places Coop on the short list
Nate Rau with some thoughts
Daily Kos links up
Can We Get To Witness?
Posted on December 20, 2008 at 8:09 pmRep. Jim Cooper allows a few good Nashvillians to answer the above with a resounding, “Yes, we can!”
Thirty-two lucky Nashvillians are headed to Washington to witness the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama after winning a drawing for tickets from U.S. Congressman Jim Cooper. The January 20, 2009 event is expected to draw hundreds of thousands—and perhaps millions—of people to the nation’s capital, including many Middle Tennesseans.
Ticket winners include a Metro public schools employee who plans to take her mother, a public school teacher; a Fisk University honors student; and a mother who plans to take her 10-year-old daughter to witness history in the making.
When called Friday with the news, many winners expressed surprise and excitement. “You have no idea how much this means to me,” said one. “I can’t wait to go. Bless you, bless you, bless you. Merry Christmas!”
The winners were chosen at random. Cooper’s staff drew names on slips of paper from his banjo case.
Cooper said it was a joy for him to get to provide tickets to Middle Tennesseans. “Never in my life have I seen this level of enthusiasm and participation in the political process,” said Cooper. “People want to be a part of this historical occasion, and I’m excited they’ll get to. We’re going to get Barack Obama’s presidency off to a great start.”
SEE ALSO: Dru Fuller
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Guess Who’s Responding To The Release Of The Financial Report of the United States Government?
Posted on December 15, 2008 at 5:01 pmThat’s right:
U.S. Congressmen Jim Cooper (D-TN) and Ron Kind (D-WI) today released the following statements in response to news that the nation’s 2008 budget deficit topped $1 trillion, and that the US government faces a shortfall of more than $50 trillion in funding for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other government promises. The news was contained in the 2008 Financial Report of the United States Government, released by Treasury after markets closed on Monday, December 15.
“This report should serve as a wakeup call to Congress and the country,” said Cooper, a Blue Dog Democrat and deficit hawk. “It should really scare people about the future of the economy. We must get our economy back on track in the short term, but we can only do it in a way that restores balance to our long-term budget process. I look forward to working with President-elect Obama to get a handle on our fiscal crisis. We can’t afford to wait any longer.”
“For too long we have been financing government with money we don’t have, on the backs of our kids and grandkids,” said Kind, a prominent member of the New Democrat Coalition. “It is my hope that now, armed with this report, we can finally convince our colleagues in Congress to get serious about the long term fiscal health of this country. I believe that any additional efforts to stimulate our economy must also include a plan to pay for it in the long run – through a bipartisan budget summit, or the like. We are encouraged by indicators that the incoming Obama Administration will be focused on this issue, and look forward to working with them.”
SEE ALSO: Daniel Potter
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Auto Bailout Bill Passes House
Posted on December 10, 2008 at 11:23 pmFrom the New York Times:
The House approved the rescue plan by 237 to 170, mostly along party lines, with 32 Republicans mainly from states heavily dependent on the auto industry joining 205 Democrats in supporting the measure. Voting against were 150 Republicans and 20 Democrats.
The White House so far has failed to generate support among Senate Republicans, who have the power to kill the bill.
All Tennessee House Republicans voted against the measure along with Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper. Rep. Bart Gordon did not cast a vote.
SEE ALSO:
Detriot Free Press
John Scott
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Obama Zig-Zags On OMB
Posted on November 19, 2008 at 7:15 amWhile many a Nashville politico had been hoping that our new President’s pick for the Office of Management and Budget would result in an open 5th District congressional seat, it appears that the new administration will be going another way:
President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to tap Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag, once a veteran economic adviser in the Clinton White House, to become his budget director, according to several National Journal sources. The Office of Management and Budget job — seen as a key post to help Obama deliver on his domestic policy agenda amidst the gloom of a $700 billion federal financial rescue, a recession and the prospects of a $1 trillion deficit next year — carries Cabinet rank. An announcement is expected soon, but could come with other personnel decisions Obama is making to lead the Treasury Department and National Economic Council in his White House.
Rep. Jim Cooper’s early support for Obama as well as his expertise and outspokenness on budget issues led many to speculate that Cooper would be tapped for the position.
Several names had been swirling about as potential candidates in a special election were Coop selected including several councilpeople, TNDP chair Gray Sasser, Deputy Governor Stuart Brunson and former Metro Mayor Bill Purcell.
PREVIOUSLY: Cooper’s Choice
Greenpeace Want Rep. Cooper To Be All He Can Be
Posted on October 16, 2008 at 8:03 amCooper, however, thinks there are better targets for the environmental org than he:
Carrie Wisinski, the Nashville organizer who moved here recently from Wisconsin, said she generally approves of Cooper’s green voting record, but she wants him and other candidates for office to back proposed climate change legislation in a high-profile way.
“If Rep. Cooper really supports and signs on to global warming legislation, it would be a big step,” Wisinski said. “It’s not far off from what he’s already doing.”
Cooper said he was “flattered” to draw such attention but also seemed perplexed. He said that unlike U.S. Reps Bart Gordon, D-Murfreesboro, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood, he isn’t on the energy and commerce committee that will shape climate change law.
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