Power Grab
Rell vetoed the two healthcare bills – pooling and SustiNet – today, and you’ll be able to read about it all over the place. I just wanted to add a couple points:
- SustiNet was just a study commission, so what the veto is really about is the question of who has influence in shaping the policy. Rell simultaneously signed an executive order creating a new study commission, one in which 8 of the 13 members are executive branch appointees. (View the sideways PDF with the list of appointees here.)
- Pooling passed with a veto-proof margin in the House, but the always-conservative Hartley was absent in the Senate (along with unanimous Republican opposition), so that’s up in the air.
- SustiNet has the votes for the override.
More later.