For All Americans

by Bart Stupak

Bart Stupak, a nine-term Democratic Congressman from Michigan’s First District, brought two unshakable principles with him to Capitol Hill in 1992: a firm belief in the sanctity of life, and the conviction that health care was a right for all Americans and not a privilege for the fortunate few. Studies indicating that 45,000 Americans died needlessly every year for lack of access to health care inspired Congressman Stupak’s tireless efforts, often at great personal cost, to pass lifesaving legislation while remaining true to his right-to-life principles.

This book is a fascinating front-row seat to the inner workings and behind-the-scenes dealmaking in the US House of Representatives, and a first-person account of the collaboration between President Obama and Bart Stupak’s small but dedicated team of legislators to achieve the historic passage of the Affordable Care Act for all Americans.

391 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 25, 2017

Reviews

[Andrew Figueiredo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Admittedly, I have always seen former Congressman Bart Stupak is a role model. His service in Congress was fruitful and inspirational. This is one of the best books if you want to learn about the intricacies of the legislative process as it applies to the Affordable Care Act. Stupak focuses on the trajectory of his amendment, which would have banned federal funds from going towards abortion or its promotion under the ACA. Stupak provides a stellar look into everything that happened, giving credit to the others who made Obama's eventual executive order banning taxpayer funding for abortion possible but certainly not sparing those he clashed with along the way. Stupak's attention to detail is incredible, and he breaks down the legislation's complexities into something pretty easy to understand. The book is refreshingly down-to-earth and filled with the lessons Stupak learned in Congress. Must read for political geeks!

[Sean Kottke]

In Mort! Mort! Mort! No Place to Hide, professional provocateur Morton Downey Jr. argues in one chapter that he wished there were more single-issue politicians in Congress. Instead of trying to be all things to all people, potentially compromising principles or negotiating for "pabulum" policies that attempt to give all parties a shout-out but fail to accomplish meaningful change, Downey thought it would be refreshing to have candidates advocate for one thing, and once elected, legislate that one thing. At that point, they should find another thing or retire back to private citizenry. Downey draws on abortion as his example; instead of forcing every candidate to take a position on abortion as a litmus test, just let those who care most about a Pro-Life or Pro-Choice perspective duke it out in elections, and then in Congress. Although Bart Stupak notes several times in this book that he came to Washington with three aims - achieving health care for all, putting the government's financial house in order, and raising the minimum wage - well over 3/4 of the pages here are devoted to one thing and just two years of Stupak's 18 year tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives: preserving the Hyde Amendment's prohibition against federal funds being spent on abortion services in the Affordable Care Act. Clearly, the story of Representative Stupak's lengthy legislative career could be told through many different lenses, but the preponderance of evidence and commentary provided in this book on just this single piece of the large and complex topic of health care reform makes his career look like that of Downey's ideal legislator. Ironically for a book titled "For All Americans," there's a lot of talk about "my" amendment and not so much discussion about why said amendment represents sound policy for the American populace. The defense of the amendment seems more couched in terms of individual conscience, the predominant views of Stupak's constituents, and preservation of a 30-year delicate compromise between Pro-Life and Pro-Choice viewpoints. All of those defenses are legitimate concerns, mind you, and Stupak ends up with a compromise solution (ACA without the amendment, paired with an Executive Order that preserves the content of the amendment). There's a self-congratulatory air to the book, with an unequivocal optimism that the outcome achieved his goal of ensuring affordable, quality health care for all Americans. Given the book's appearance after more than seven years of attempts to undo the ACA, that unequivocality feels tone-deaf. I'd rather have had a robust defense of the whole of the ACA (especially given passages taking a sizable share of credit for getting the ACA passed, even if it ended up rather different from the original House proposal that Stupak championed), than the exhaustively detailed record of conversations, negotiations and score-keeping on this single portion of the ACA debate. There's a good discussion of the meaning and value of Executive Orders, which is highly relevant to the current climate, but moments like that get obscured by the amount of detail on the wrangling over the Stupak Amendment, some of which is unflattering and of questionable value to the overall project. More disciplined editing could have resulted in something half the length and twice as powerful.