November 16, 2009
Despite what some may argue, second Congressional district Representative Anh “Joseph” Cao (R – La) may not be the health care hero he has been dubbed. Cao, who represents a heavily Democratic district, made headlines when he voted in favor of health care reform.
Recently, he has been hailed as the poster boy for bi-partisan legislation and progress who stood up to his Republican colleagues and voted with the needs of his Democratic constituents. While millions followed the monumental November 7, 2009, Congressional vote for health care reform many supporters of the measure celebrated Cao’s courage to break from party politics.
What most people didn’t pay attention to was the fact that Cao’s vote was recorded after 218 other Congressional members voted for the measure though he said he had decided to support the bill once the Stupak Amendment passed.
When asked if his plan was to not voted until the bill had enough support to pass, he responded with, “Uh, no.” He says that he did not intentionally wait until the number of support hit 218 – the number of votes needed for the measure to pass the House – he went on to explain that he and his colleagues have 15 minutes to vote and that many times they wait until the last minute.
Cao argues that his vote was not contingent upon anyone else’s. However, he did not answer when asked if he had been the deciding vote – would he have still supported the measure. He went on to say, “my commitment is to support the President in his reform bill.”
Despite Cao’s commitment being to support President Obama with health care reform, he voted to replace the bill with the Republican version – that did not address denying people because of pre-existing conditions. After that motion failed, he voted to table the Democratic bill.
Cao goes on to say he voted for the Republican version of health care reform because he thought “there were some provisions in the Republican bill that were good, but still it was only a procedural vote.” He says he did not think his party’s bill was a better measure but that tort reform and other issues needed to be addressed.
After the Cao’s vote on health care reform, his office released a statement saying, “Cao votes for life.” Many people incorrectly assumed that meant he voted for the lives of the millions of uninsured and under-insured Americans. He explained that the statement was in regards to his support of the Stupak Amendment, something that supports the notion that a women’s ability to have the right to choose should be based on how much money is at her disposal.
If Cao’s commitment is truly to support President Obama’s health care bill, he should be one of the first to vote instead of the second to last when the measure goes before the House again this year. Hopefully, his pro-life stance is extended to those who will die without reform in our health care system.
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