Dance of Legislation || with Confirmed Answers.
Who is Eric Redman? correct answers new member of staff for Magnuson in Senate, narrator
who is Magnuson correct answers senior Senator of Washington State; has seniority***, serves
on appropriations committee (hands out money), he is the chairman of a subcommittee that deals
with health education and welfare (HEW) in the committee, only reason he turns out to be a
major player in the bill
who is Abe Bergman correct answers Pediatrician, political activist and unofficial advisor,
constituent of Magnuson and started to work together, brings the thought of starting The
National Health Service Corps
What is the National Health Service Corp? What was it for? Was this a new idea? correct
answers -Bring doctors to the urban ghettos or rural areas that are medically underserved Certain
regions, people don't have insurance, can't pay for health, doctors don't want to set up in these
areas because they can't pay off their loans
Incentive: Government would pay the salaries for these doctors for two years, with the
assumption that many of these doctors would stay after the two years is up, let the doctors put
down roots, and then decide to stay there
What were most doctors required to do when they got out of medical school back then? Why
does this present a problem for the concept of an NHSC? correct answers -Would be drafted into
the military
-Pentagon wants all the doctors in the military, after med school, would end up in the draft
Doctor shortage caused --many of them to be drafted
-Coming from a war in Southeast Asia, would not be enticing to say you had to join the NHSC
How could connecting the doctors with the Public Health Service get around this problem? What
changes in the law seemed to be required in order to put this into effect? correct answers -Maybe
NHSC could be an alternative to the draft, people could serve their country through this way
-took a program that already existed, Public Health Service, and put a bunch of money into that
and built the Corp up through that Not a military branch, but a uniformed service exempt from
the draft, already serving the government, so they do not get drafted
Why did Redman and his colleagues try to avoid writing a law to authorize new responsibilities
for the Public Health Service, i.e. why did they try to simply appropriate funds for the NHSC?
correct answers -Bill would not fall within the jurisdiction of the Senate Commerce Committee
and would instead automatically go to the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, which
considered all health legislation in the Senate, and Magnuson was not a member
--Because it did not fall under Magnuson's committee, he would not be able to pass it virtually
automatically
-Magnuson also did not sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee which might ask to review
the bill no matter how carefully they tried to skirt the draft bill (P.40)
, What was the reaction at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW)? [note:
HEW split in 1979 to form the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of
Education]. correct answers HEW immediately sent a young doctor and lawyer from the
Department's operating division to help with technical assistance
- Doctor and lawyer readily endorsed the NHSC concept -Insisted people in the HSMHA have
long been eager for such a program
Why didn't the earmarking strategy (i.e. simply appropriating money) for the NHSC work?
correct answers can't do anything without the congressional authority
-would have been unconstitutional for the executive branch to spend this money
Can you summarize a general principle linking authorization and appropriations? correct answers
For anything to happen in government, two bills have to be passed, one piece of authorizing
legislation -> congress authorizing executive branch authority constitutionally, second piece of
legislation is the budget, appropriation of the money
What advantages did Redman and his colleagues see in introducing their ideas through
committee amendments? Why didn't this work? correct answers -All Magnuson had to do was
introduce a rough bill giving the general outline for the NHSC- the subcommittee staffs and
HEW would work out the details then graft the proposal onto the PHS amendments of 1970
-Those within the subcommittee, if they were disposed, could simply incorporate the NHSC
proposal into the legislation, which was certain to pass
-Didn't work: Nixon invaded Cambodia, civil unrest, Personal staff of senators swamped, missed
the window to try and amend the bill in the committee, by the time unrest died down and
personal staff could return to look at legislation, the bill was no longer in the committee and was
going to the Senate floor (p.54-56)
Why is the floor amendment strategy difficult to pursue in the Senate? Why did they turn to
experts at HEW for assistance? What help did they hope HEW could provide? correct answers -
Unlikely to succeed because Senate rarely adopts floor amendments
--Don't have enough time to speak it through, especially if it is a major amendment
--Discussions supposed to take place in the committees where there is more time to discuss
things Committees has negotiated for a long time, senate is not going to be happy when one
person stands up and is like let's change something
-Turned to the HEW because the floor-amendment strategy required a great deal more effort
from Magnuson's office than the other strategies Needed more information on what their bill was
trying to do in order to build rebuttals?
Why was the NHSC concept controversial within HEW? Note both the ideological as well as the
organizational reasons. What was the status of the Public Health Service within HEW? Note the
implications of this for their legislative strategy (Redman's comments about the "tail wagging the
dog.") correct answers "socialized medicine"
Why did Redman and his colleagues end up drafting the legislation on their own? correct
answers because the HEW screwed them over
-they conned Eric and the senator's team
Who is Eric Redman? correct answers new member of staff for Magnuson in Senate, narrator
who is Magnuson correct answers senior Senator of Washington State; has seniority***, serves
on appropriations committee (hands out money), he is the chairman of a subcommittee that deals
with health education and welfare (HEW) in the committee, only reason he turns out to be a
major player in the bill
who is Abe Bergman correct answers Pediatrician, political activist and unofficial advisor,
constituent of Magnuson and started to work together, brings the thought of starting The
National Health Service Corps
What is the National Health Service Corp? What was it for? Was this a new idea? correct
answers -Bring doctors to the urban ghettos or rural areas that are medically underserved Certain
regions, people don't have insurance, can't pay for health, doctors don't want to set up in these
areas because they can't pay off their loans
Incentive: Government would pay the salaries for these doctors for two years, with the
assumption that many of these doctors would stay after the two years is up, let the doctors put
down roots, and then decide to stay there
What were most doctors required to do when they got out of medical school back then? Why
does this present a problem for the concept of an NHSC? correct answers -Would be drafted into
the military
-Pentagon wants all the doctors in the military, after med school, would end up in the draft
Doctor shortage caused --many of them to be drafted
-Coming from a war in Southeast Asia, would not be enticing to say you had to join the NHSC
How could connecting the doctors with the Public Health Service get around this problem? What
changes in the law seemed to be required in order to put this into effect? correct answers -Maybe
NHSC could be an alternative to the draft, people could serve their country through this way
-took a program that already existed, Public Health Service, and put a bunch of money into that
and built the Corp up through that Not a military branch, but a uniformed service exempt from
the draft, already serving the government, so they do not get drafted
Why did Redman and his colleagues try to avoid writing a law to authorize new responsibilities
for the Public Health Service, i.e. why did they try to simply appropriate funds for the NHSC?
correct answers -Bill would not fall within the jurisdiction of the Senate Commerce Committee
and would instead automatically go to the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, which
considered all health legislation in the Senate, and Magnuson was not a member
--Because it did not fall under Magnuson's committee, he would not be able to pass it virtually
automatically
-Magnuson also did not sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee which might ask to review
the bill no matter how carefully they tried to skirt the draft bill (P.40)
, What was the reaction at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW)? [note:
HEW split in 1979 to form the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of
Education]. correct answers HEW immediately sent a young doctor and lawyer from the
Department's operating division to help with technical assistance
- Doctor and lawyer readily endorsed the NHSC concept -Insisted people in the HSMHA have
long been eager for such a program
Why didn't the earmarking strategy (i.e. simply appropriating money) for the NHSC work?
correct answers can't do anything without the congressional authority
-would have been unconstitutional for the executive branch to spend this money
Can you summarize a general principle linking authorization and appropriations? correct answers
For anything to happen in government, two bills have to be passed, one piece of authorizing
legislation -> congress authorizing executive branch authority constitutionally, second piece of
legislation is the budget, appropriation of the money
What advantages did Redman and his colleagues see in introducing their ideas through
committee amendments? Why didn't this work? correct answers -All Magnuson had to do was
introduce a rough bill giving the general outline for the NHSC- the subcommittee staffs and
HEW would work out the details then graft the proposal onto the PHS amendments of 1970
-Those within the subcommittee, if they were disposed, could simply incorporate the NHSC
proposal into the legislation, which was certain to pass
-Didn't work: Nixon invaded Cambodia, civil unrest, Personal staff of senators swamped, missed
the window to try and amend the bill in the committee, by the time unrest died down and
personal staff could return to look at legislation, the bill was no longer in the committee and was
going to the Senate floor (p.54-56)
Why is the floor amendment strategy difficult to pursue in the Senate? Why did they turn to
experts at HEW for assistance? What help did they hope HEW could provide? correct answers -
Unlikely to succeed because Senate rarely adopts floor amendments
--Don't have enough time to speak it through, especially if it is a major amendment
--Discussions supposed to take place in the committees where there is more time to discuss
things Committees has negotiated for a long time, senate is not going to be happy when one
person stands up and is like let's change something
-Turned to the HEW because the floor-amendment strategy required a great deal more effort
from Magnuson's office than the other strategies Needed more information on what their bill was
trying to do in order to build rebuttals?
Why was the NHSC concept controversial within HEW? Note both the ideological as well as the
organizational reasons. What was the status of the Public Health Service within HEW? Note the
implications of this for their legislative strategy (Redman's comments about the "tail wagging the
dog.") correct answers "socialized medicine"
Why did Redman and his colleagues end up drafting the legislation on their own? correct
answers because the HEW screwed them over
-they conned Eric and the senator's team
