"Democrats forced to consider scaled-back legislation" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | January 21, 2010
WASHINGTON - Democrats grappled for a new health care strategy yesterday, including the possibility of proposing far less ambitious legislation that could draw support from Republicans....
President Obama urged Democrats not to “jam’’ a health overhaul through Congress, and he and congressional leaders agreed that no votes on health care should occur until the new Republican senator is seated....
A number of Senate Democrats, now deprived of the crucial 60th vote required to prevent the other party from blocking legislation, spoke of trying to salvage the nearly complete legislation by persuading House Democrats to grit their teeth and quickly pass the Senate bill, with a promise of later enacting a series of fixes in separate legislation....
And turn in your House seat with it, will ya?
Trying to negotiate a scaled-back bill also raises policy challenges because of the very nature of the challenge of trying to cover tens of millions of Americans. If Congress wants to prohibit insurance companies from discriminating against people with preexisting conditions - one of the most basic goals the president has set for the health overhaul - they have to make buying insurance mandatory, or else premiums will jump because people will buy coverage only when they are sick. If all Americans have to buy insurance, premiums have to be affordable. That probably requires government subsidies.
All this bull crap around what this is really about -- a health tax so the government won't default on its interest payments on its debt!
A subdued Senate Democratic caucus met for the first time since they passed the bill at dawn on Christmas Eve. They emerged saying they would wait a few days to let the dust settle.
Democrats, however, cannot afford to wait long. They are worried that Massachusetts could be a harbinger for major losses in this year’s midterm elections by an electorate that dislikes the health bill and wants fast action on jobs and the economy....
Yeah, Massachusetts woke 'em up!
A Republican in Ted's chair?
Shocked them more down there than up here!
Of course, like all Democrats, they DIDN'T LEARN ANYTHING, GET the MESSAGE, or HEAR US!
"Party scrambling to keep its agenda intact" by Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | January 21, 2010
You really don't want control of Congress, do you?
WASHINGTON - National Democrats yesterday struggled to figure out how to keep their agenda - and their congressional majorities - intact amid what they acknowledge is deep anger across the nation.
The excruciatingly crafted health care overhaul, a chief priority for President Obama, is now in grave danger. Climate change legislation, which already had a shaky future, will be even more difficult to pass once Brown is sworn in and Democrats no longer have the 60 votes needed to break GOP filibusters in the Senate.
Then DROP 'EM and MOVE ON!
Even such workaday bills as agency appropriations will be a bigger headache for Democrats, who now must win over at least one Republican to pass anything but the least controversial items.
How come Republicans never ran into these problems when they ran the place with only 55 votes, DemocraPs?
And underlying the new legislative reality is a political threat even more disconcerting to the majority Democrats: If the party cannot even hang onto the seat once held by liberal stalwart Edward M. Kennedy, are they safe anywhere?
Answer: NO WAY!
Democrats emerged from their weekly caucus luncheon - an event that took on the tone of a group therapy session yesterday - with no immediate plan of action, lawmakers said. But there was an overwhelming acknowledgment the Bay State race exposed a voter fury that could lead to any number of incumbents losing reelection bids this fall....
That's why Dodd and Dorgan bailed.
Overwhelmingly, Democrats said they were not prepared to drop the agenda they and Obama have been pushing....
Then EXPECT MORE BEATINGS!
Obama and his spokesman said it was not the agenda that was tuning off voters, but the inability of Democrats to sell it....
Then HE DIDN'T LEARN ANYTHING either!!!
We KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SELLING, and we DO NOT WANT IT!!!!!!
--more--"But do they listen? No, no, they don't listen.
Instead they go on a PROPAGANDA SPREE!!!!!
"Obama prepares media blitz on bank tax, consumer agency" by Michael Kranish, Globe Staff | January 21, 2010
WASHINGTON - Voter anger worked for Scott Brown. Now President Obama is trying to make anger about the state of the economy work for himself once more.
One year after moving into the White House on a tide of anger against Republican policies, and one day after learning that he had lost his filibuster-proof majority in the US Senate due to Brown’s election as Massachusetts Republican senator, Obama is trying to tap into public anger about Wall Street’s role in the financial meltdown to win back independents and other voters disaffected with the Democrats.
Why not? We are ANGRY AT HIM, too!!!
I EXPECTED CHANGE, not the CONTINUATION of George W. Bush's presidency!
One of his first steps is preparing a public relations blitz to win support for a new tax on large banks and for the creation of a consumer protection agency....
Well, WHERE YOU GUYS BEEN for the LAST YEAR you had FILIBUSTER-PROOF POWER? Couldn't get anything passed on those scores? Only after LOSING that do they go on a BLITZ for their programs? WTF?!!!
Some moderate Democrats, meanwhile, expressed concern that Obama and the party leadership will not learn the right lessons from Brown’s victory....
Hey, they are Democrats, it's to be expected.
Bruce Reed, chief executive of the Democratic Leadership Council and the domestic policy adviser in the Clinton White House when its own health care plan died, said Obama can learn from that defeat. Clinton pulled back, declared the era of big government over, and focused on centrist issues such as a balanced budget and overhauling welfare. Reed urged Obama to focus on cutting the deficit to win voter trust. Another centrist group, Third Way, similarly urged Obama to focus on entitlement overhaul and deficit cutting....
Ever notice when it comes to THINGS hat the PEOPLE WANT the BUDGET AXES come out?
Sure wish we hadn't blown all that loot on lying wars and banksters.
Oh, SPEAKING of WHICH:
"Health industry stands to gain; Mass. firms could get boost if Obama’s plan for new tax is derailed" by Robert Weisman, Globe Staff | January 21, 2010
Well, CUI BONO, 'eh, readers?
The proposed US health care overhaul is mortally wounded. And while that has created fresh uncertainty for Massachusetts health and life sciences businesses, it could be welcome news for investors.
That was the view of some industry watchers yesterday in the aftermath of Republican Scott Brown’s US Senate victory....
So WHO is going to BENEFIT?
Congress may instead tackle narrower changes to the system. For instance, lawmakers who agreed on 12 years of protected status for biologic drugs, a top legislative priority of the biotechnology industry in Massachusetts and elsewhere, might move that provision to a separate law.
Related: Welcome to the Wonderful World of Biologics
Similarly, they may reverse the broader bill’s proposed cuts in Medicare reimbursements that have riled doctors.
Yeah, they are going to piecemeal it like the second stimuloot so you won't really notice.
But there are also fears the backlash against federal spending seen in the Massachusetts electorate could fuel efforts to balance the budget by cutting back further on Medicare and on US government contributions to state Medicaid programs. That would be the “nightmare scenario,’’ said Lynn Nicholas, chief executive of the Massachusetts Hospital Association in Burlington. Nicholas, who was visiting Capitol Hill yesterday, said many there had a “deer in the headlights’’ look.
Despite the election returns, business leaders predict little change in day-to-day operations of health care companies....
Yeah, this is all for NOTHING! It's ALL a BUNCH of HAND-WAVING and ARM-FLAILING FOOLEYS for public consumption.
If the health care overhaul effort is scuttled, it could boost the stock values of big device makers like Boston Scientific Corp. of Natick, giant drug companies like Pfizer and Merck, and insurance goliaths like Cigna Corp. and WellPoint Inc., all of which have been depressed by investor anticipation of the taxes and fees they would pay under a revamped system....
“That would improve their profits.... ’’
Yeah, ISN'T THAT what this WHOLE THING was ABOUT?
