How will the newly Democratic Senate affect health care policy and politics?
As Sen. Jeffords leaves the GOP, uncertain times are ahead in Washington From the July 2001 ACP-ASIM Observer, copyright 2001 by the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine. By Robert B. Doherty Washington has a well-deserved reputation for assuming that everything that happens in its insular political world is greatly important to the rest of the country. Typically, though, the rest of the country goes about its usual business, paying little or no attention to the latest political news from D.C. There are times, however, when political changes in Washington portend big policy changes that affect the entire country. Last month’s decision by Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords to drop his lifelong affiliation with the Republican Party to become an independent is one such change. Divided power Sen. Jeffords’ decision to change his party affiliation means that Democrats now control the Senate, albeit by a 50-49 majority. Although Sen. Jeffords stopped short of joining t
