This morning, the members of the so-called Gang of Six — three Democrats and three Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee who have been trying to find a bipartisan compromise on health care reform — held a conference call ahead of Congress’ return to action on Tuesday and President Barack Obama’s health care speech before a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. Democrat Max Baucus of Montana, the Finance Committee’s chairman, leads the group and he reportedly is eager to move forward on health care, and might be willing to do so without Republican support. Baucus, one of the Senate’s more conservative Democrats, may now doubt the sincerity of his Republican counterparts. Statements made by Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Mike Enzi of Arizona over the August recess have raised questions about their willingness to honestly seek bipartisan health care legislation.
What is striking about the Gang of Six is how unrepresentative of America as a whole it is. Each of its members comes from a mostly rural, sparsely populated state, and with the exception of Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, each comes from a state with demographics that don’t reflect most of the rest of the country, and certainly don’t reflect the demographic diversity of California, Texas, New York and Florida, the country’s most populous states. Baucus, Grassley and their fellow negotiators represent states with a combined population of 8,444,956, which is roughly the population of New York City (8,274,527), and represents only 2.8 percent of the U.S. population — or, to put it in regional terms, 34.7 percent of Texas’ population.
It’s not that the entire Finance Committee is so demographically outside the national norm. The committee’s 13 Democrats include Sens. Charles Schumer of New York (the nation’s third most populous state), Bill Nelson of Florida (fourth in population), Robert Menendez of New Jersey (11th), Maria Cantwell of Washington (13th) and John Kerry of Massachusetts (15th). Sens. John Cornyn of Texas (second in population) and Jon Kyl of Arizona (14th) are among the committee’s 10 Republicans. (None of the panel’s other eight Republicans comes from a state ranked in the top 25 of most populous states.) Yet all are standing outside the Gang of Six looking in.
As the health care debate prepares to move out of the town hall meetings of August and back to the committee rooms and congressional offices of Washington, here is a quick look at the six senators who might control the future of health care in America more than any other group or individual, with a brief demographic breakdown of the six states each represents. First, the Democrats, since they control the Senate:
Sen. Max Baucus, 67, of Montana (pictured above left)
Chairman of the Finance Committee and leader of the Gang of Six
Donations from the health care industry, January-June: $121,000
Montana’s population: 967,440
Percent white, not Hispanic: 88.2
Percent black: 0.6
Largest city: Billings (pop. 100,148)
Sen. Kent Conrad, 61, of North Dakota (above center)
Donations from the health care industry, January-June: $36,500
North Dakota’s population: 641,481
Percent white, not Hispanic: 89.9
Percent black: 1.0
Largest city: Fargo (90,056)
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, 65, of New Mexico (above right)
Donations from the health care industry, January-June: $2,000
New Mexico’s Population: 1,984,356
Percent white, not Hispanic: 42.3
Percent black: 2.8
Largest city: Albuquerque (505,949)
Now, the Republicans:
Sen. Charles Grassley, 75, of Iowa (above left)
Ranking Republican on the Finance Committee
Donations from the health care industry, January-June: $179,000
Iowa’s population: 3,002,555
Percent white, not Hispanic: 90.6
Percent black: 2.6
Largest city: Des Moines (193,886)
Sen. Olympia Snowe, 62, of Maine (above center)
Donations from the health care industry, January-June: $9,500
Maine’s population: 1,316,456
Percent white, not Hispanic: 95.5
Percent black: 1.0
Largest city: Portland (63,011)
Sen. Michael Enzi, 65, of Wyoming (above right)
Donations from the health care industry, January-June: $16,000
Wyoming’s population: 532,668
Percent white, not Hispanic: 87.3
Percent black: 1.2
Largest city: Cheyenne (55,314)
And for comparison’s sake, here’s a brief look at the United States, Texas and Austin:
United States
Population: 304,059,724
Percent white, not Hispanic: 66
Percent black: 12.8
Largest city: New York (8,274,527)
Texas
Population: 24,326,974
Percent white, not Hispanic: 47.4
Percent black: 11.9
Largest city: Houston (2,144,491)
Austin
Population: 725,306
Percent white, not Hispanic: 49.9
Percent black: 8.7
The source for all demographic data is the U.S. Census Bureau. Go here and here for details and additional information.
During the first half of 2009, the health care industry gave a total of $19.7 million to all members of Congress, according to USA Today, citing data from the Center for Responsive Politics. The total included $8.1 million given to lawmakers who are on the House and Senate committees that govern health policy. Go here for more information.
Finally, it’s worth noting that Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota are so sparsely populated that they have more senators (two each, of course) than U.S. representatives (one each). Maine has only two U.S. representatives, New Mexico has three, and Iowa, the most populous of the six states, has five. Texas has 32.