Can 16 senators solve the health care crisis?

WASHINGTON - On the campaign trail, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain frequently laud bipartisan cooperation and unconventional problem solving skills.

But back in Washington, 16 mostly obscure senators are actually doing it.

Without fanfare or fanaticism, this mixed-party group says it's laying the groundwork for the next president to pass universal health care legislation.

The idea was conceived and introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in 2006. Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, came onboard shortly thereafter. And the two of them have been courting recruits ever since.

"Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain compete almost daily about who can be the most bipartisan," said Wyden.

"We're giving them a real shot," added Bennett. "Regardless of who is president from this campaign, he has done his dead-level best to raise expectations for immediate action."

Not the norm
The level bipartisanship Wyden and Bennett have created in the Senate is rarely seen in Washington. And the manner in which they've taken on health care reform, in many ways, represents the antithesis of congressional business-as-usual.

While the bill's co-sponsors admit that the legislation isn't perfect, their formal endorsements signal a willingness to step off a political precipice in search of public support.

"My co-sponsorship of the Wyden-Bennett bill is not an endorsement of all that it proposes," said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. "Instead, I am co-sponsoring this bill to add my voice to those who are calling for people to work across party lines to find to innovative solutions that can work."

Giving something to get something
This isn’t Bennett’s first foray into health care reform.

In 1993, he helped lead the charge against the Clinton administration's comprehensive reform bill. That plan included a requirement for employers to insure all of their workers.

"Whenever anything came up on the floor on the employer mandate, I had about six shock troops working with me...and we were ready to pounce," said Bennett.

"The Republicans have always resisted universal coverage, because they've always seen it, accurately, as code word for 'single-payer, government run system.'"

Now, Bennett is the primary Republican sponsor of a bill that includes the very mandate he resisted: insurance for all Americans.

In exchange, Bennett and the GOP get what Democrats have fought against for years: a larger role for private insurance companies.

The Healthy Americans Act (HAA) would empower private companies to act as the sole providers of health insurance in the United States.

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While Medicare would still exist for seniors, the government-run programs that insure children (SCHIP) and the poor (Medicaid) would be eliminated.

Wyden said that unlike the unbending attitudes in 1990's, a "philosophical truce" has started to fall over the Capitol.

"Democrats have been willing to move in terms of saying, 'All right. We won’t turn this all over to the government and make it government run. We'll have a strong role for the private sector."

Authentic bipartisanship
The concept of bipartisanship is loosely defined in Capitol Hill parlance.

When it comes to controversial legislation, it is not uncommon to hear the word “bipartisan” tossed around for a bill with 40 Republican and three Democratic co-sponsors (or vice versa).

But Wyden and Bennett couldn't be more true to the word: eight Democrats and eight Republicans.

Even when they announced new co-sponsors, they came in pairs.

"It became the Noah's Ark bill," said Bennett, "you go on two-by-two with one Republican and one Democrat."

Most of the new recruits were not the usual suspects who often crossed party lines. Many aren’t facing tough re-election campaigns. And typically, they’re not Democrats representing "red states" or Republicans representing "blue states."

The members include solid Republican and reliable Democrats. There are members involved in GOP leadership and several who sit on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which shares jurisdiction over HAA with the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

There hasn't been much public opposition to the overall bill. But there has been pointed criticism of some of the bill's key components.

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