As the health care bill moves closer...

...and closer to the president's desk, Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa voices his displeasure in the Times Prescriptions blog:

Congress should work on the fundamental problems in the health care system and pass common sense medical malpractice reform to stop wasting so much money on defensive medicine, end pre-existing condition exclusions and waiting periods, start paying for value rather than volume, and empower consumers to shop around for health care and lower costs with competition, just like with other services we buy. Congress should make market reforms that help small businesses and the self-employed access health insurance.

All good suggestions.

For months, Mr. Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, was part of a small group of senators working to develop the legislation, but ended up turning against the bill and opposing it both on the finance panel and the Senate floor.

So what happened? In August:

Appearing at a town hall in his home state of Iowa, Sen. Chuck Grassley told a crowd of more than 300 that they were correct to fear that the government would "pull the plug on grandma."

"There is some fear because in the House bill, there is counseling for end-of-life," Grassley said. "And from that standpoint, you have every right to fear. You shouldn't have counseling at the end of life. You ought to have counseling 20 years before you're going to die. You ought to plan these things out. And I don't have any problem with things like living wills. But they ought to be done within the family. We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma."

So rather than work on the legislation in good faith, Grassley (and the rest of the Republican caucus) chose instead to withdraw from the process altogether. And now the GOP is left with a bill that they can only complain about. Who's fault is that?