re: #245 freetoken
While I might have had some sympathy for your argument, you blew it here. Reality is, it is the Congress, especially those members who come from districts where union vote turn out is still significant, for whom catering to this particular special interest group has led them to adding this to the health care bill negotiations.
Furthermore, all special interest groups try to get Congress to do their will. The HCR act is a big bill and has attracted particular attention, but pretty much anything Congress does has fine detail (often overlooked by the populace as a whole, and the news media) where certain groups have succeeded in getting some special attention.
My understanding is that the Obama WH was up all night negotiating this.
So did I blow it, or did the Whitehouse?