"President Obama needs to protect every vote he can in the Senate in order to get legislation for his agenda passed [and] suggested that Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada's tough reelection fight this year was due more to misinformation about the plans than to general unpopularity of the overhaul, and he defended the Democratic bills that have passed both houses of Congress but have not been reconciled into one piece of legislation.
That's one of the reasons your poll numbers are dropping.
--more--"
Related: Hidden Health Care Bill
"Democrats had, at least in theory, the 60 votes needed to break GOP filibusters. Brown’s upset election last month ended that possibility, forcing Senate Democratic leaders to woo Republicans to advance their bills.
--more--"
Well, apparently NOT!
But (blog editor smiles) what is ONE MORE DECEPTION or LIE when the paper is full of them?
I get a little tired of seeing the future, folks.
"One last big try on health; Obama offers plan for summit, envisions way to bypass GOP" by Lisa Wangsness and Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | February 23, 2010
WASHINGTON - President Obama’s plan retains most of the major elements of a bill the Senate passed on Christmas Eve, including an expansion of insurance to cover 30 million Americans who lack insurance, government subsidies to help them afford it, and a combination of new taxes and spending reductions to cover the $950 billion price tag.
The one a MODERATE REPUBLICAN WROTE?
"Today’s Senate bill - supported by Obama - resembles a plan drafted by a moderate Republican"
So why are Repuglicans complaining?
How do you like the SHOW, AmeriKa?
White House officials said yesterday that the president’s proposal was crafted to allow it to pass without any Republican votes, if necessary, using a process called “reconciliation,’’ which lets the Senate bypass a filibuster and adopt legislation by a simple majority of 51 votes, as long as each provision affects federal revenue....
So all that DEBATE about the FILIBUSTER and how BAD it is that Repuglicans are blocking health care, blah, blah, blah, was S*** POLITICAL FOOLEYS for public consumption!!
“The president believes the American people deserve an up-or-down vote on health reform,’’ said White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer in a conference call with reporters....
And WHEN was the LAST TIME you heard THAT RHETORIC coming from the White House, 'eh, America? Bush and his judicial appointments, right?
How do you like the "change," America?
Pfeiffer said the president’s proposal is based on agreements House and Senate leaders made in January, before Brown was elected, when they had almost completed a final compromise....
Translation: THEY DIDN'T HEAR YOU, Massachusetts voters!!!
Yesterday Senate Democrats - even some, like Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, who have expressed reservations about moving forward with reconciliation - sounded energized.
Translation: Going to ram through that health tax to save this bankrupt government come hell or high water.
“I’m happy that this proposal has come forward; we need to continue to push for health care reform,’’ Landrieu said. She characterized the GOP leaders as “very disingenuous’’ in their approach to health care and said she remained open to considering reconciliation. “If they have amendments, they should just put them up on the table, or be quiet.’’
Quite the "compromising" attitude from the open-minded DemocraP, huh?
***********************
The proposal adheres more closely to the Senate bill than to the version passed by the House earlier last year. It does not contain a government-sponsored health plan, or “public option,’’ that was rejected by the Senate after months of wrangling between liberal and moderate Democrats.
How come LIBERALS ALWAYS LOSE OUT?
It would reduce the number of individuals and families with high-value, high-benefit health care plans that would be subject to a 40-percent “Cadillac’’ excise tax, and also delay the tax until 2018. It would eliminate a highly unpopular special Medicaid deal for Nebraska in favor of providing more generous Medicaid assistance to all states. It also includes new regulations requiring insurers to justify exorbitant rate increases.
So when do the campaign kickbacks, 'er, contributions of tax loot stop?
Senate majority leader Harry Reid said it “brings together the best of the Senate bill and the best of the House bill in a fiscally responsible way.’’
Like these guys running a $1.5 TRILLION DEFICIT while living high off the hog on taxpayer funds know anything about fiscal responsibility!
But whether Reid and other Senate Democrats have the political will to push through a bill using the reconciliation process remained unclear yesterday.
Their corporate masters will give them the will with a hand up the old sock puppet chute.
And even if the Senate were able to achieve such a feat, House leaders could have trouble duplicating their 220-to-215 vote of last year, given the increasing worries among moderate Democrats about voter ire in the 2010 midterm elections.
They should be worried, especially if they pass this. They might as well give the keys to Congress to the Republicans right after the vote.
A contingent of House Democrats have said they also won’t support the Senate bill unless it contains the House bill’s stricter abortion coverage restrictions.
No problem; Pelosi will just threaten people with losses of chairmanships and campaign cash.
Related: Massachusetts Senate Vote Irrelevant
Certainly getting that feeling, aren't you?
Why even bother voting anymore?
Doesn't make one damn bit of difference.
Strict rules don’t allow provisions to pass under reconciliation unless they affect revenue, so abortion would have to be passed separately....
Oh, so it won't even be affected by the vote.
And here is the bill boiled down into a phrase:
Individuals would have to obtain insurance or face a fine, and employers with more than 50 employees would have to help offset the cost to the government if their uninsured workers apply for federally subsidized insurance....
Yesterday Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the main lobby for health insurers, said regulating rate increases on health insurers ignores the cause of those rate increases, including soaring prices charged by doctors and hospitals and the lack of incentives for young, healthy people to continue purchasing insurance and therefore help subsidize older and sicker people.
But we can SUBSIDIZE BANK PROFITS to the BILLIONS!
Related: Memory Hole: Why the Nation Doesn't Need Massachusetts Health Care
There are your soaring costs.
Also see: The Massachusetts Model: Poor Partners
And an unconstitutional tax penalty is an "incentive," huh?
She said the president’s proposal, which contains a light penalty for not obtaining insurance, does not do enough to encourage universal participation....
How about UNIVERSAL COVERAGE instead?
And here is why I despise DemocraPs even more than Repuglicans.
At least dick Repuglicans hold to dick principles; DemocraPs never do.
"Democrats warm to Obama’s plan to pass health bill; But GOP rips maneuver on eve of ‘summit’" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | February 24, 2010
WASHINGTON - Democrats in Congress showed signs of enthusiasm for passing a health care bill yesterday after President Obama offered his own proposal Monday. But it remained far from clear whether they could muster enough votes to pass a bill....
Political pressure applied by the leadership will take care of that.
Some Democrats are plotting ways to bypass the GOP altogether using budget reconciliation, a parliamentary procedure that lets bills pass the Senate by a simple majority, circumventing a filibuster by the minority party....
So the SPECIAL ELECTION and DEBATE about the filibuster really meant ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, huh?
And ALL THIS TIME and MONEY taken up with it.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, retorted that Republicans should “stop crying’’ about using reconciliation.
That's a bipartisan hand out there for you, huh?
The procedure was used to pass President Bush’s tax cuts this decade, a welfare overhaul in the 1990s, and President Reagan’s tax cuts in the 1980s.
Yeah, and WHERE was the FILIBUSTER THEN, Democraps?
The plan Obama put forward on Monday was based largely on agreements Democratic leaders had made in trying to resolve differences between the House and Senate bills before Jan. 19, when Massachusetts voters elected Republican Scott Brown to fill the seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy. Brown’s election deprived Democrats of the 60-vote majority required to pass a compromise health care bill without the GOP’s help.
Translation: F*** what the people of Massachusetts or anyone else says.
House Democrats met at noon yesterday to review the president’s proposal, and afterward House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the president’s plan had been well received. House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Henry Waxman appeared encouraged after the meeting and said he thought Democratic leaders were “very close’’ to getting majorities in the House and Senate behind a bill.
US Representative Jim McDermott, a Washington Democrat, said members are beginning to realize that whatever passes can be adjusted later and that major pieces won’t take effect for years. “There’s no surprises left in this whole process,’’ he said. “It’s now just a matter of moving the pieces around till it makes sense as a bill to 218 people.’’
A congressman I used to have respect for; not anymore.
But several moderate Democrats sounded less confident.
When Pelosi comes knocking on their office doors they will change their tune.
House majority leader Steny Hoyer, in his weekly briefing with reporters, declined to say much about the president’s plan, adding at one point that Democrats “may not be able to do it all.’’ Two other prominent moderate Blue Dog Democrats in the House, Baron Hill of Indiana and Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania, also declined to comment on the president’s proposal....
Worried about reelection, are they?
Well, they should be. Going to be tagged with the bill whether they vote for it or not.
"Obama, Dems look beyond health summit" by Erica Werner and Alan Fram, Associated Press Writers | February 24, 2010
WASHINGTON --President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats, holding out little hope for Thursday's televised bipartisan summit on health care, are prepared to try for a far-reaching bill in the coming weeks without a single Republican vote.
Barring an unexpected two-party breakthrough at the summit, Democratic leaders feel they can't afford to fail, leaving them empty-handed on a huge priority in an already difficult election year.
By passing something the American people oppose you fail, stoo-pids.
It's far from clear they can gather the votes, however, and it will take a major effort to unite fractious Democrats....
Or threats from leadership.
Democratic leaders say they hope to persuade House Democrats to swallow their objections and approve a health bill the Senate passed on Christmas Eve....
And they will.
The House in November passed its version of the health care overhaul 220-215, with 39 Democrats abandoning their party's leaders. Those leaders now fear they will lose even more votes over an abortion dispute, and it's unclear whether they can persuade enough of the 39 to come on board to make up the difference....
And look what didn't make the cut:
The legislation faces dim prospects in the Senate even as the House debated the antitrust bill, executives of WellPoint Inc. were under fire from the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said his panel's investigators had received internal company documents showing that in 2008, 39 company executives received salaries of $1 million or more. And in 2007 and 2008, it spent $27 million for executive retreats, which Democrats said included stays at fancy resorts in Hawaii and Arizona....
YOUR HEALTH PREMIUM DOLLARS at WORK for YOU, America!!!!!
Related: Democrats lead a charge against health insurers
And let the campaign kickbacks, 'er, cash dry up?
Update:
Health care summit underscores divisions
Estrella Chaules of Sudbury, Mass., said she was disappointed that Obama had not advocated for a Canadian-style single-payer system.
A lot of us are.
“I think we need health care for all, and I’m just sorry that President Obama has forgotten or reneged on his promise to give universal health care for all,’’ said Chaules, who is 67 and retired.
Well, he's abandoned all those words so I'm "reconciled" to that fact.
The viewing public at home may not have been quite as engaged....
You think? I did NOT WATCH a MINUTE, nor have I watched any news coverage. The only MSM exposure I have here is the stinky Boston Glob.
What I did last night was go watch a tough girls quarterfinal high-school basketball tournament game where the favored county team went down and its dreams where dashed. Then I return and find a terribly disappointing television report on the local leader at 11; however, the local newspaper has done an adequate job as opposed to last year giving me all the scores of every game so far.
But the lengthy session may have helped convince Democrats in Congress that they must move forward without the other party....
So when is Obama signing the health tax?
