Apparently, the fix was in when union bosses' met in a closed door meeting at the White House on Monday and had a follow-up meeting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday. Unions bosses were reportedly able to get an exemption for collectively-bargained health care plans from the so-called "cadillac tax."
According to Congress Daily:
While Congress Daily notes that the exemption is not a done deal and it could be "tweaked" to include union-free workers as well, Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) stated:Unions tentatively struck a deal Tuesday to exempt collectively bargained healthcare plans from a tax on high-cost plans expected to be used to help raise revenue for the healthcare overhaul.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern and United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger met with House Speaker Pelosi Tuesday, a day after labor leaders met at the White House to express their opposition to the excise tax.
"It's setting up a divide-and-conquer situation here where some people are going to feel they're paying for other people, and they're all working. That politically is possibly the most dangerous thing Democrats can do is create that division."
We couldn't agree more.
Since union bosses spent an estimated $1.5 billion of their members' money on electing Democrats in 2006 and 2008, it is expected that Democrats would be more amenable to union bosses' wishes than the Bush administration was. However, such flagrant capitulation to a special interest is appalling and should be thoroughly (and loudly) condemned.
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"I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes." Thomas Paine December 23, 1776
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