By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s office in downtown Little Rock is becoming a battleground in the fight over health care reform, with groups on both sides of the issue holding events there this week.
Today, former Republican U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey appeared outside Lincoln’s office at a news conference organized by the Pulaski County Tea Party, which opposes health care legislation being debated in the Senate.
Groups supporting health care reform planned to gather at Lincoln’s office at noon Thursday to kick off a 24-hour vigil to urge Lincoln to vote for the Senate bill.
Lincoln was in Washington, D.C., today, taking part in the Senate health care reform debate.
Armey, who heads the conservative group FreedomWorks, decried the Democratic health care legislation as “insidious.”
“It is not a health care reform bill, it’s a health care takeover bill — one you can’t afford, one under which you will be ill-served, one that will put your children’s health at risk and one that will eventually be a burden on this economy and this nation that we can’t sustain,” Armey said.
He noted Arkansas’ senior Democratic senator is considered a swing vote on the legislation.
“The biggest reason that Sen. Lincoln is a swing voter: She’s up for election next year. Two-thirds of the Senate is not up for election next year, and therefore they have a callous disregard of the interests of the citizens of their states,” he said.
Lincoln spokeswoman Katie Laning Niebaum responded today, “Sen. Lincoln has had an ongoing dialogue with her constituents and does not require a former corporate lobbyist from Washington to facilitate a conversation with Arkansans on health reform. It appears that the Senate is nearing the end of a very long process, and Sen. Lincoln is encouraged that she’ll have the opportunity to vote on commonsense health insurance reforms that will benefit Arkansans without expanding government.”
Thursday’s event sponsored by health care reform supporters is to begin at Lincoln’s office, then move to UA 155 Plumbers Hall, also in Little Rock, about 1 p.m. Participants plan to watch movies through the night and hold a prayer breakfast at 8:30 a.m. Friday, said Justin Nickels, state coordinator of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
The 24-hour vigil will be sponsored by AFSCME, Arkansas AFL-CIO, Health Care for America Now! and Interfaith for Worker Justice.
“Arkansans understand that if Republican and insurance company scare tactics win, we lose,” Nickels said. “As they work overtime trying to kill reform, we’re countering with our own 24-hour marathon to remind Sen. Lincoln that the time to pass real health care reform is now.”
After the vigil ends at noon Friday, the Arkansas AFL-CIO plans to go “caroling for health care” on the steps of the state Capitol.
The carolers will meet for coffee and hot chocolate on the third floor of the Arkansas Education Association building at 12:15 p.m., then walk to the Capitol, state AFL-CIO spokeswoman Laura Packard said today.
Also today, U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, argued that the Senate bill misses the point.
“The problem is, there is nothing in the bill to control cost, which is really what is killing us,” Boozman said during a conference call with reporters.
The congressman said the cost of the legislation “will be borne on the back of diminished quality of service to seniors, through cutting Medicare $500 billion. And then the other thing is, I think that the other real brunt will be on small business.”
A report released today by Washington-based Families USA, a group advocating for reform, asserted the Senate health care bill would extend health insurance coverage to hundreds of thousands of Arkansans who now lack coverage.
In its report titled “At a Crossroads: Is Health Care Coverage Ahead for America?” the group cited data from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimating that 31 million Americans would gain coverage under the Senate bill by 2019, including 322,000 Arkansans.
The group also said in the report that without health care reform, 8 million Americans would lose health care coverage by 2019, including 83,000 Arkansans.
“The consequences of inaction are very severe for people in Arkansas and across the country,” Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack said. “If the Senate fails to act, Americans will continue to struggle and a growing number of them will face the devastating effects of going without coverage.”
