Ex-Congressman Phil Hare has no regrets

Bill Knight column for 11-18, 19 or 20, 2019

Two issues obviously dominate the 2020 campaign and conversations over coffee: public hearings into whether President Trump committed bribery or other impeachable acts, and health-care coverage.

Former Illinois Congressman Phil Hare isn’t sure if either is getting explained properly.

Born in Galesburg and raised in the Quad Cities, Hare worked as a factory tailor and became active in the UNITE HERE union before befriending young attorney Lane Evans when they both volunteered during the 1976 Democratic primaries. In 1982, Hare helped Evans get elected to Congress, after which he was Evans’ District Director, then successor after Evans resigned due to health.

The health of insurance coverage remains an issue. Republicans in Washington continue to attack the Affordable Care Act, again challenging it in court, and Democratic candidates for president favor some sort of expansion, led by U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Warren and Sanders both support universal coverage run by the government like Medicare, except with no premiums, deductibles or co-payments. More than half of Americans support “Medicare for All,” Kaiser Family Foundation found this fall, but opposition has increased, mostly based on how it could be funded.

Sanders proposes a payroll tax on employers of upper-income people replacing premium contributions companies pay for workers’ coverage, reducing employers’ costs. Warren wants large employers to pay 98 percent of their current health-insurance expenditure as their part of the new program.

Here in Illinois, Hare isn’t surprised at Americans’ yearning for better health-care coverage. But it is remarkable that the issue is still around almost a decade after it cost him his job on Capitol Hill.  Looking back at his time as Lane Evans’ aide for 23 years and his two terms as Congressman from the 17^th District, Hare says it’s past time to deal with it.

“I didn’t lose just because the Tea Party took a comment out of context,” he says. “It was health care – the Affordable Care Act (ACA).”

During the 2010 campaign, challengers attacked Hare for defending the ACA as Constitutional (which the Roberts Supreme Court affirmed in 2012), but opponents campaigned with a video edited so Hare’s heard saying, “I don’t worry about the Constitution…”

Hare doesn’t regret that fight.

“When I lost, my son said, ‘Sorry,’ and I said, ‘Don’t be sorry’.” Hare says. “Losing was worth it. I’d do it again. It was health care.”

Universal health care is personal for him, he says. When Hare was a boy, his family had a costly medical emergency and though his dad, a machinist, sometimes worked three jobs, they lost their home, Hare recalls.

“In fact, at my sister’s wedding, a process server gave us notice [of eviction],” he says. “It wasn’t Dad’s fault [but] I remember him worrying. [Now,] people still come up to me and thank me for health-care reform.”

Like the misleading attack in 2010, foes sometimes overwhelm debate with falsehoods.

“Democrats got hammered with exaggerations and lies, and the party didn’t do a good job presenting the proposal,” he says. “I support health care for everybody, and that needs to be explained in everyday language. As Lane used to say, ‘You don’t buy a ticket to France and get off the plane and speak Spanish.’

“We should have gone on TV and said, ‘This is what it is, and this is what it isn’t,’ and that’s true with almost any idea,” he continues. “Because if Democrats don’t explain it, Republicans will spin it their way.

“Ordinary people will support it; people aren’t stupid,” he adds.

As for “the elephant in the room” – the House investigating the President – Hare says it’s not treasonous; it’s required, which should be explained.

“We need an impeachment inquiry,” he says. “It’s the House’s duty. The criticism that impeachment takes away from legislation is ridiculous. It doesn’t detract from legislative duties – House Democrats can walk and chew gum at the same time! They’ve passed good legislation, but most has sat on [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell’s desk.”

Indeed, House Democrats have passed hundreds of measures in the last year only to have them held up by McConnell, who’s been criticized for refusing to even schedule votes.

Others in the GOP are dismissing the effort to hold the president accountable for his actions. For example, U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Peoria) last month called the impeachment proceedings an attempted “nullification of an election.”

Hare almost laughs.

“Republicans in Washington are lapdogs,” Hare says. “With few exceptions, they have no courage. Members of Congress are elected to serve, not to get re-elected.”