By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, affirmed his support today for using the reconciliation process to pass health care legislation and accused incumbent Democrat Blanche Lincoln of being indecisive in the health care debate.
Halter made his remarks during a news conference following news reports that Lincoln had softened her opposition to using the majority-vote process known as reconciliation — reports that Lincoln said were inaccurate.
The lieutenant governor called his news conference to announce that if elected to Congress he would oppose automatic pay raises for House and Senate members and would give any such raise he received to charity; would hold town hall meetings in all 75 of Arkansas’ counties at least once a year; would post his schedule online; and would never become a lobbyist.
Reconciliation would require a simple majority — 51 votes — in the Senate to pass a campanion bill to the Senate health care bill that passed last year, bypassing the possibility of a filibuster.
Adopted in 1974 as a way to balance budget bills, the process has been used to pass measures such as the bill that created the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, and tax cuts endorsed by then-President George W. Bush.
The Web site Politico reported today that when Lincoln was asked whether she was wavering on her previously stated opposition to using reconciliation to pass the companion health care bill, she said, “I’ll wait to see what’s in it.”
Lincoln later issued a news release stating that her position on reconciliation had not changed and that her remarks to a reporter had been mischaracterized. The reconciliation process is “off the table for me,” she said.
“I have fought for and ensured transparency throughout this process, and I believe we must get over this final hurdle using the regular rules of the Senate,” Lincoln said.
Politico printed Lincoln’s statement but stood by its reporting, saying that “for reporters who watch the words of lawmakers closely, Lincoln’s suggestion that she wanted to see the bill before stating her opposition to reconciliation was different than her prior pronouncements on the issue.”
At his news conference today, Halter said, “The reconciliation process, which is a majority vote, is one that has been used under Republican presidents, Democratic presidents and Republican Congresses and Democratic Congresses. I believe that it can and should be used to advance important legislation, health care legislation and other important legislation, as it has been done for decades.”
Asked about Lincoln’s comments, Halter said they seemed to be “a part of the pattern.”
“She was for the public option before she was against it,” Halter said. “The very day that she went to the Senate floor and indicated that she would filibuster a public option, that same day on her Web site was an article that she had written indicating that she would be in favor of a public option. I think Arkansans deserve clear, decisive decisions.”
Lincoln campaign spokeswoman Katie Laning Niebaum said today, “Sen. Lincoln has a 15-year record that is clear and open for inspection. It’s easy for someone with no record to say what people want to hear.”
Niebaum said the article Halter refer to was an op-ed piece that dated to July 2009 in which Lincoln said a public option was one option to consider. Ultimately Lincoln opposed the idea “because of the risk it posed to American taxpayers and the Treasury,” she said.
Niebaum said Lincoln was in Washington today pushing for an amendment to the Senate jobs bill that would levy a 50 percent tax on bonuses over $400,000 paid to executives at financial institutions that received at least $5 billion in taxpayer-funded bailouts.
“Today Bill Halter held a press conference while Sen. Lincoln worked toward Senate passage of an amendment that will hold bailed out Wall Street institutions and their executives more accountable to American taxpayers by taxing excessive bonuses,” she said.
