Health Care Vote is Positive Sign

I think the Senate Finance Committee’s 14-to-9 health care vote on Tuesday is a favorable sign that some kind of health care reform will pass Congress this year. While I don’t think the overhaul will be as complete as some would have hoped, I think Democrats have invested too much for it to fold completely.

It is impossible to exaggerate how much the health care reform legislation process has dominated Congress this year. It has absolutely snuffed out any interest in a variety of other important issues, including those involving Community Action.

I hope a health care package is completed this year. There are a lot of Community Action’s issues, such as reauthorization for the Community Services Block Grant, Workforce Investment Act and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, that definitely will require congressional attention next year. If health care, or the energy bill, is still carrying forward into early 2010, some of our key items will be pushed back even further, and that could be dangerous.