The Debate Continues

Here is the response from Dr.Graboyes of the NFIB on my post yesterday about healthcare reform:

NFIB's approach over the past three years has been exactly the right one. NFIB did not suddenly "realize" anything we didn't know before. All the points I've made since 2007 still hold.

 

NFIB is must represent the interests of our 350,000 members, their millions of employees, and small business as a whole. That obligation does not permit us to retreat into our chambers and compliment ourselves on the purity of our vision. Contrary to your fear, no one ever co-opted NFIB. And you are absolutely, positively, totally, completely wrong when you say our efforts left small business "empty-handed." Our engagement with Capitol Hill (which still continues) paid off in at least three ways:

 

[1] Due diligence: The bills now before Congress will kill a substantial number of firms and throw their employees out of work. When angry constituents vent their anger at what has happened, no member of Congress will ever be able to say, "If NFIB had only told us, we would have changed the bill." Their votes on the bills have been noted, and they've had fair warning before the voters issue their judgment.

 

[2] Triage: As bad as these bills are - and they are ghastly - they could have been even worse for small business. My NFIB colleagues who work the Hill labored mightily to weed out the worst of the worst provisions. They often succeeded, and I have the highest regards for their accomplishments.

 

[3] Preparedness: If one of these bills (or some mutated version thereof) passes, the disasters that they rain on small business and others will force Congress to re-open the bill and begin stripping out the most damaging provisions. Senators and Representatives will rue that day. But when that day arrives, NFIB's tireless work means we are ready for those later battles, and Congress already knows what we will fight for and against.

 

Jeff, you're a good friend of small business, and we appreciate your support. I especially appreciate your helping to push our video. But let me be blunt. Had we followed your advice and either retreated into a fetal position or into self-righteous bleating in the wilderness, the bills now before Congress would not be one scintilla better. They would almost certainly be much worse. To repeat, NFIB does not have the luxury of choosing irrelevance.

 

Bob Graboyes