Louisiana Republican Breaks Ranks on Health Bill/Republican who voted for health bill gets dose of racism

Louisiana Republican Breaks Ranks on Health Bill
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: November 8, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/us/politics/09cao.html?th&emc=th


WASHINGTON — House Democrats were thrilled by the passage of their major health care legislation on Saturday, but were particularly tickled by denying Republicans a solid wall of opposition with the solitary vote of Representative Anh Cao of Louisiana.

Mr. Cao, a freshman Republican from New Orleans and a Vietnamese-American representing a predominantly black district, was elected last year in an upset victory over Representative William J. Jefferson, a Democrat who was under indictment at the time and has since been convicted of federal corruption charges.

“I have a constitutional duty to make the right decision for my district whether or not the decision was popular,” Mr. Cao said in an interview Sunday on CNN.

“I had to make a decision of conscience based on the needs of the people of my district,” he added. “A lot of my constituents are uninsured, a lot of them are poor.”

On his Web site, Mr. Cao said he had studied the entire health care bill, and in a statement posted shortly after the vote on Saturday, he said he had secured a personal commitment from President Obama on health issues important to Louisiana, including disparities in federal reimbursement rates for Medicaid.

“I read the versions of the House bill. I listened to the countless stories of Orleans and Jefferson Parish citizens whose health care costs are exploding — if they are able to obtain health care at all,” the statement said. “Louisianans need real options for primary care, for mental health care and for expanded health care for seniors and children.”

And while many Democrats complained that tighter restrictions on insurance coverage for abortions had threatened support for the bill on their side, Mr. Cao, a onetime Jesuit seminarian, said those tougher restrictions were essential for his vote.

Another reason Mr. Cao may have felt pressure to support the health care bill is that most of his constituents are Democrats.

In his campaign last year, he promised ethics and integrity.

Mr. Cao, 42, who is known as Joseph, was born in Vietnam (he is the first Vietnamese-American member of Congress) and fled with two siblings after the fall of Saigon in 1975, moving to live with an uncle in Indiana. He holds a master’s degree in philosophy from Fordham University and received a law degree from Loyola University.

He also has a sense of humor.

In a recent blog post, he explained how to say his name.

“I humbly write you today to clarify the confusion surrounding my last name,” Mr. Cao wrote. “In recent days, I have acknowledged the blush on the faces of television reporters, my fellow statesmen, my own interns, and even the president of the United States as they grasp frantically at the correct pronunciation and inevitably cast upon a hurried ‘Cow’ or ‘Chow.’ ”

He continued: “My last name — Cao — is actually pronounced (drumroll please) ‘Gow.’ It starts with a ‘G’,” he continuted, and and rhymes with ‘Pow.’

He signed the letter: “Anh (pronounced Anh) Joseph (pronounced Joseph) Cao (pronounced? You guessed it! Gow) P.S. On second thought, never mind. Just call me Joseph.”

Mr. Cao’s vote offered a notable break in ranks for the House Republican minority, which has stayed unified on major political issues. On the economic stimulus measure, for instance, Republicans voted unanimously in opposition.

But this was not the first time Mr. Cao has broken with his party. He was one of 29 Republicans to join Democrats this year in voting to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which typically covers children whose families do not qualify for Medicaid.

Democrats, teasingly, immediately claimed a mantle of bipartisanship for their health care legislation.

“This was, as you observed, a bipartisan vote,” the House majority leader, Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland, said at a news conference to celebrate the passage of the bill.

Mr. Cao, who registered his decision near the end of the 15-minute voting period, quickly slipped out of the House chamber and eluded reporters. He is certain to enjoy a new political celebrity, though it is unclear whether it will help his political prospects.

Democrats are already lining up to challenge Mr. Cao next year, and analysts consistently rate his district as among the most likely to flip to Democratic control.

His vote for the health care legislation contrasted with the “no” vote by Representative Charlie Melancon, a Democrat from southern Louisiana, who is running for the Senate next year.

The only Republican senator to vote in favor of the health care legislation in the committee process was Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, but Ms. Snowe has since said she will oppose bringing up the bill for debate because the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, added a government plan to the bill.





Republican who voted for health bill gets dose of racism
November 10, 2009
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/race/2009/11/lone-republican-to-vote-for-health-bill-treated-to-racist-tweets-.html


U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) once hailed Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-La.) as the future of the GOP. In fact, when Cao (pronounced GOW) won office last year, he was the toast of the Republican Party. But now he stands alone as the only Republican to vote for the healthcare overhaul bill assembled by the House Democrats.

Some tweets about his vote have been less than kind. He’s been called a “gook,” told to “go back to Saigon, South Vietnam,” and referred to as the Representative “Mao.”

Cao won nearly 50 percent of the vote against the corrupt Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.)---who was convicted for stashing about $100.000 of kickback money in his freezer.

Cao, the first Vietnamese-American ever elected to Congress, represents a Louisiana district that is 64% black and has a median income of $25,000. It’s still suffering from the affects of Hurricane Katrina. Cao, who was wooed by President Obama on the healthcare issue, has asked the federal government to forgive about $1.27 billion in federal disaster loans.

After Saturday’s vote, Cao told the Times-Picayune that his vote was a matter of conscience. "Twenty percent of the people in my district are uninsured and we have tremendous health care issues in the district.''