Amid red-hot rhetoric over Obamacare, Indiana's freshman senator tries reaching across the aisle

WASHINGTON – On the most partisan of issues, Sen. Todd Young is trying to create a nonpartisan dialogue.

The freshman Republican’s call sheets are scribbled with notes he made after reaching out to the 48 members of the Senate Democratic caucus to talk about health care.

“Wants to talk when we return on Monday,” reads one of the notes he made.

“Not sure on progress, but we should all continue talking,” reads another.

“Have staff follow up,” he jotted by one Democrat’s name on the stapled-together sheets of paper he’s using to track his progress.

Young, who has a strong conservative record but was also more willing than many of his former House colleagues to reach across party lines, is trying to fulfill potentially conflicting campaign promises. While working with fellow Republicans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, Young is also following through on his argument that the best way to improve the nation’s health care system is finding changes both sides can support.

“If we’re going to achieve lasting results, we’re going to need to reach bipartisan conclusions,” Young wrote in a letter sent to his Democratic colleagues last month.

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Young followed the letters with a call, which led to conversations with nearly half the Democratic caucus.

That doesn’t mean the bill Senate Republicans hope to bring to the floor this month will win a single Democratic vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told Reuters last month he would not work with Democrats on the legislation because the differences between the two parties on the issue were too great.

The legislation to undo President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement is being worked on behind closed doors. Neither the Senate health committee, on which Young sits, nor other panels with jurisdiction are holding hearings or public drafting sessions.

But Young said his outreach could lead to collaboration down the road on health care or other issues.

“This was an unapologetic effort to try to earn the trust and good will of my fellow colleagues and let them know that on this issue, as with other issues, it’s my intent to try to find common ground,” he said in an interview in his Senate office, which used to belong to predecessor Dan Coats.

Steven S. Smith, a political science professor at Washington University in St. Louis who has written about party influence in Congress, said it’s probably unusual for a freshman to make an extensive effort to talk personally with each colleague on the other side.

“It’s a smart thing for him to do,” Smith said. “Anything he can do in the Senate that symbolizes the serious effort to bridge the gap certainly works to his advantage.”

After Coats chose not to seek re-election last year, Young won the seat by winning hard-fought campaigns against both former Sen. Evan Bayh — a moderate Democrat — and hardline conservative Rep. Marlin Stutzman.

While there were few differences in Young’s and Stutzman’s voting records during their six years in the House, Young argued that rather than being just a “rhetorical conservative,” he was trying to get things done.

Like most members of Congress, Young voted with his party the vast majority of the time. But unlike most of his GOP colleagues, Young was not willing in 2013 to maintain a government shutdown to take an ideological stand. Young initially backed an effort by Republicans to use a deadline for funding the government to force Obama to agree to delay or defund the Affordable Care Act. But when that didn’t work, Young was among a minority of House Republicans who joined Democrats in supporting a deal to end the impasse and avoid a default on the nation’s debt.

In Young’s last two years in the House, he ranked in the top third among members for how often he introduced bills that attracted support from members of the other party and how often he co-sponsored a bill introduced from someone from across the aisle, according to the Bipartisan Index. The index was created by the Lugar Center and Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy.

Cross-party friendships — and even friendly working relationships — have deteriorated over the past two decades, according to Smith. And given the current political environment, the odds are small that Young’s efforts will result in significant legislation anytime soon. But, “you have to start somewhere,” Smith added.

“For a new member of the Senate to start learning about the policy ideas of his colleagues, developing some interpersonal relationships, maybe some trust, can pay dividends in the long run,” Smith said.

During Young’s first few months in the Senate, he has teamed up with Democrats on a handful of issues, including an effort with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar urging Ethiopia to reconsider its decision to suspend international adoption.

And after the Trump administration proposed big foreign aid cuts, Young and Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., led a bipartisan group of more than three dozen senators in backing “robust funding” for international affairs.

On legislation and nominations brought to the floor, Young has voted against fellow Republicans on two issues so far. He was one of four Republicans to join with most Democrats in opposing President Donald Trump’s proposed arms sale to Saudi Arabia. Young said he was reacting to what he called the Saudi government’s refusal to alleviate some of the humanitarian suffering in Yemen.

And Young was one of two Republicans to vote against a bill blocking an Obama-era rule to make it easier for states to help private workers who did not have a retirement savings account through their job.

“While state-based retirement plans are not my first choice, if implemented carefully, they could help close the retirement savings gap and ease the strain faced by our social safety net system,” Young said about his vote.

In Young’s first Senate floor speech, he urged his colleagues to try to find the “common good.”

“As a Marine, I like a good fight as much as the next guy,” Young said. “But, let’s resolve whenever possible to fight together because I know most assuredly we’re fighting for the same people —  and, in most cases, we’re fighting for the same ends.”

Except on health care, Republicans have been fighting to repeal Obamacare for years and Democrats have been fighting to keep the law that passed with no GOP support.

Young learned from his conversations with Democrats that Republicans’ constant talk of repealing the law, instead of fixing problems with it, was a barrier. Just talking about the issue differently, he said, would help create “the political space” to work together.

“I have in the past said `Let’s repeal Obamacare.’ I can’t say that in certain settings I won’t say that,’” Young said about his own language. “What I typically say is, `We need to reform our nation’s health care law.’ Because I do recognize that in order to enact the bold changes, and durable changes that we need to make to actually bend the health care delivery cost curve downward, it’s going to take 60 votes in the Senate. We don’t have enough votes. It’s just simple math.”

In the conversations he’s had with Democrats so far, one asked Young why drug companies can write off advertising expenses to reduce their taxes — an issue Young figured he should learn about since Eli Lilly and Co. is based in Indiana.

“There are good arguments and counterarguments,” Young said of his research. “It’s an unclear picture.”

Another Democrat urged Young to read an influential 2009 article examining why a Texas town spent more per person on health care than almost any other part of the country, yet didn’t get better results.

The article encouraged Young that there might be steps both sides can agree on to reduce health care costs without sacrificing quality of care.

“It’s just about finding value care instead of fee-based care. That right there is substantial common ground,” he said.

The Affordable Care Act did include efforts to test new payment and service delivery models that reward outcomes instead of more procedures. But the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation created by the law became a punching bag for many conservatives, including former GOP Rep. Tom Price who now heads the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Price complained that some of the center’s pilot projects were mandatory and exceeded its authority.

While Young acknowledged that some of the criticisms of the center are legitimate, he said it’s an important component to driving down costs. Before Price’s confirmation hearing, Young let him know he would be asking publicly if Price supported the center.

“Do you intend to keep this innovation center, or perhaps develop a new one?” Young asked.

Price responded that while he has “adamantly opposed the mandatory nature” of some of the center’s initiatives, it has “great possibility and great promise.”

On the health care legislation Senate Republicans are working on, Young has been primarily working with other Republicans on the levels of Medicaid funding. Young said he hasn’t set any conditions about what has to be in the bill, or not in the bill, to win his support.

“You frankly take yourself out of a 50-plus negotiation if you establish red lines that just can’t be met,” he said.

And he’s keeping the lines of communication open with the 48 other senators just in case.

“As the debate advances, give me a call,” Young wrote his Democratic colleagues. “I would be happy to grab a cup of coffee and hear your thoughts and ideas.”

Contact Maureen Groppe at mgroppe@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @mgroppe.