When the GOP play hardball — they really, really do. Back in 2003, when George W. Bush’s plan to expand Medicare to include the Part D drug benefit as part of the Medicare Modernization Act, Republican senators — in a legislative branch controlled by that party — gave no second thought to the increase in deficit spending required to make that happen. To hear the GOP put things, the move was a necessary one.

In fact, all current GOP senators (including the 24 who voted for the 2003 Medicare expansion) oppose the health care bill that all of the senate Dems just voted for en masse. The number one reason cited is cost. Unsurprisingly most Democrats and some conservatives are scratching their heads at the sudden shift in GOP ideology which bridged the costly 2003 expansion with a stern rebuke over the costs of the current reform bill — regardless of what the non-partisan CBO scores as the ultimate pricetag.

In 2003, the GOP gave Pharma the power to prohibit Medicare from negotiating lower covered drug prices with itself — essentially ensuring the ability for Pharma to keep drug prices up and competitive. So, it’s easy to see the GOP’s affinity with that particular piece of legislation which continues to benefit Insurance (MA plans) and Pharma today; it’s also quite apparent why some feel a double standard among the GOP in approving an over $500B bill then and voting against a bill which the CBO scores at over $800 billion now.

Statements like these don’t do much to mollify Democrats’ frustrations:

Six years ago, “it was standard practice not to pay for things,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. “We were concerned about it, because it certainly added to the deficit, no question.” His 2003 vote has been vindicated, Hatch said, because the prescription drug benefit “has done a lot of good.”

[...]

The political situation is different now, Snowe said, because “we’re in a tough climate and people are angry and frustrated.”

Perhaps the GOP should look in the mirror when it comes to anger and frustration because it will only get worse if the House begins to have similar frustrations over the Seante GOP’s double standards during the reform bill’s merging.

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