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The Hill
Liberals will get single-payer vote on House floor
By Mike Soraghan
Seeking to dampen liberal anger about deals cut with centrists, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said House leaders have agreed to allow a floor vote on a government-run, single-payer system.
"A lot of members on our committee want a vote on that," said Waxman said in an interview. "I believe their wishes will be accommodated."
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) offered a single-payer amendment in the Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday, but withdrew it after Waxman said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had promised a floor vote.
The Weiner single payer amendment:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090731/hr3200_weiner_1.pdf
Comment: Call
out the troops. We have work to do! Dr. Don McCanne
How single payer came back on the table
by Michael Munk
http://www.michaelmunk.com/Archive_national.htm
As it looks to me, here's a brief summary of the politics that led
to the promised House vote on 676 next month. Waxman's Energy & Commerce
committee was the scene of the showdown.
The seven Blue Dog
Democrats on the committee had held up reform for the past several weeks. With
a push from Obama whip Emanuel (enabler of many of the Dogs in the last
congressional campaign) Waxman struck a deal with four of them --their leader
Mike Ross (ARK), Bart Gordon (TN), Baron Hill (IN) and Zack Space (OH). In
return for their votes, the deal would (1) delay the full House vote past
August, (2) weaken the bill's public health care option and (3) cut $100
billion from health care spending over 10 years, much of it from insurance
premium subsidies to uninsured middle income families.
Those outrageous
concessions finally produced some outrage from House progressives, 57 of whom
signed a letter to House leadership threatening to vote against a weak bill. In
response, Waxman renegotiated his deal on behalf of Obama with his committee's
Blue Dogs and progressives that would (1) delink the
public option from Medicare and force it to negotiate its own reimbursement
rates, (2) restore the middle-income subsidies by
shifting funds from existing federal health care programs and (3) reduce the
limit of premiums for the uninsured from 12% to 11% of a household's annual
income.
But now Waxman faced
another challenge from the Left. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) proposed a single
payer amendment that would have forced every member of the committee to vote it
up or down--a possible embarrassment to progressive members (including Waxman
who was a co-signer of 676 last year but took his name off this year). With the
support of Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Mike Doyle
(D-Penn.), Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Weiner offered to withdraw his amendment IF Pelosi
promised to bring 676 to a floor debate and vote. She agreed and Waxman and
Weiner sealed the committee vote at 31-28.
In that vote, only
three of the original Blue Dogs (Jim Matheson of
No one expects 676 to
win in September, but it will be a significant test of strength between the
progressives and their opponents in the Democratic party.
No Democrat will have anything to lose by supporting it--they can tell their
constituents they supported single payer in a losing effort and went on to pass
whatever the Rules Committee will decide will be the final version of the Obama
bill in the House (which evidently will be heavily influenced by the Senate's
version.
I confess I am not
completely clear on how "robust" the public option is in Waxman's bill
is, but the opportunity to watch House Democrats stand up and be counted on
single payer 676 is a worthwhile achievement.
House panel
OKs healthcare bill, setting stage for fall vote Thanks
to Toni Rizzo
No Republicans on the committee vote for the plan. Democrats will pitch the
plan nationally over the August recess.
By Janet Hook August 1 2009
Reporting from Washington -- President Obama's ambitious plan to overhaul the
nation's healthcare system got a major boost when a pivotal House committee
passed a compromise bill Friday night, clearing the way for a floor vote this
fall.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-healthcare-house1-2009aug01,0,2500915.story
Visit chicagotribune.com at http://www.chicagotribune.com
Three blue Dogs (Barrow, Matheson
and Melancon) and Rick Boucher from swVirginia coalman and Bart Stupak of MI, a C street
renter, Law Enforcement Caucus, prolife Democrat went
over to the GOPers in a committee with 36 Dems and 23 Repubs
By DAVID ESPO and ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writers
David Espo And Erica
Werner, Associated Press Writers – 13 mins ago
The 31-28 vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, along party lines, was weeks later than either the White House or Democratic
leaders had hoped.
As part of a last-minute series of changes, the committee agreed to cap
increases in the cost of insurance sold under the bill, and also to give the federal government authority to negotiate directly with
drug companies for lower prices under Medicare.
The new provisions were part of an intensive effort Democrats made in recent
days to satisfy the conflicting demands of liberals and conservatives on the
panel, unity necessary to overcome a solid wall of Republican opposition.
"We have agreed we need to pull together," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.,
the committee chairman who presided over hours of private negotiations and
public committee meetings. Five Democrats opposed the bill.
The measure is designed to extend health insurance to millions who now lack it,
at the same time it strives to slow the growth in medical
costs nationwide — Obama's twin goals.
While the pace of action was slower than party leaders
had hoped, it was speedier by far than the timetable in the Senate.
There, Democrats said a deadline of Sept. 15 had been imposed on marathon talks
aimed at producing a bipartisan compromise. Several officials said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., had informed fellow senators
he intends to convene his Finance Committee to begin
voting by then.
Without a bipartisan bill, Baucus would presumably have to produce a measure
tailored to Democratic specifications, a step he has said repeatedly he would
rather avoid. It wasn't clear how much the deadline was Baucus' idea, and how
much it reflected growing impatience at the White House
and on the part of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
of Nevada.
The Energy and Commerce Committee was the third of three House panels to act on
the legislation, a measure that numerous lawmakers note would rearrange
one-sixth of the nation's economy. A vote in the full House is expected in
September, after lawmakers return from a monthlong
vacation.
In the run-up to final approval, the panel handed the drug industry a victory,
voting 47-11 to grant 12 years of market protection to high-tech drugs used to
combat cancer, Parkinson's and other deadly diseases. The decision was a
setback for the White House, which had hoped to give patients faster access to
generic versions of costly biotech medicines like the blockbuster cancer drug Avastin.
Democrats also turned back a Republican bid to strip out a provision allowing
the government to sell insurance in competition with private industry. The vote
was 31-28, reflecting the shaky majority Democrats had on a 59 committee they
nominally controlled with 36 members.
The Democrats who opposed the final bill were
Reps. John Barrow of
Under the bill, insurance companies would be required to sell coverage to all
seeking it, without exclusions for pre-existing medical
conditions. The federal government would provide subsidies for
lower-income families to help them afford policies that would otherwise be out
of their reach.
The bills would set up so-called exchanges, in effect national marketplaces
where consumers both with and without subsidies could evaluate different
policies and choose the one they wanted.
The main expansion of coverage would not come until 2013 — after the next
presidential election.
Even so, the political stakes are enormous for Obama and the Democrats as they
strive to pass legislation that has proven elusive for years. Republicans are
overwhelmingly opposed to the approach they chose, and outside groups on both
sides of the issue arranged a heavy dose of television advertising over August.
"Let me assure you: There will be a health care
reform bill passed and it will make a big difference in the lives of the
American people," Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in an interview.
But the House Republican Leader, John Boehner of
On a vote that crossed party lines, abortion
opponents failed in an attempt to bar insurance plans that offer abortion
services from accepting customers with government
subsidies. The vote was 31-27.
On Thursday night, the panel agreed on a provision saying the government could
neither require nor prohibit abortion services in insurance plans sold in the
exchange.
Waxman's announcement of a series of last-minute changes capped a tumultuous
period that began more than two weeks ago when conservative and moderate
Democrats on the panel sought changes.
Needing their votes, Waxman began negotiations that grew to include Pelosi and White House Chief of Staff Rahm
Emanuel. An agreement at midweek excluded more businesses from a
requirement to offer insurance to their workers and reduced subsidies for
lower-income uninsured.
It also swiftly triggered a counter-revolt among liberals, who demanded the
subsidies be restored in full.
The final deal accommodated them without sacrificing the concessions made
earlier to the conservatives, and included numerous other provisions.
Insurance plans sold in the exchange would need government
approval before increasing premiums by more than one and half times
medical inflation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated that medical
prices rose at an annual rate of 3.6 percent annually for the three months
ending in June.
The provision giving the federal government the right to negotiate for better
drug prices under Medicare has long been a goal of Democrats who say it could
lower costs for seniors. Critics argue that is unlikely unless Congress also
limits the drugs than can be sold, thereby giving the government the ability to
play one company off against another.
That has long been viewed as politically unfeasible under Medicare, because it
would limit the choice that seniors now enjoy.
But including restrictions in the government health
insurance option would place it in line with Medicaid, the government
program for the poor, as well as the Department of
Veterans Affairs and many private plans that limit drug choice.
Read
Krugman, Conyers responses - Single payer or
nothing! Nothing is what we will get if we don't get single payer, is
their basic conclusion. Meanwhile, if you look at what the Blue Dogs forced, it
is just percentages of already unacceptab le
approaches (low and moderate income people will have to pay 12, instead of 11
percent. What if we made the public option a check off that put you upon
request on medicar,cal and
took a standardized health tax out of your payroll? I'm trying to think
inside thi9s thing!!!
By ROBERT PEAR and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published:
Representative
Henry A. Waxman of
The
agreement, brokered by aides to President Obama, overcame a
10-day impasse and would allow a pivotal House committee to resume work on the
bill, with an expectation that the panel could approve it later this week.
Vulnerable Pups by digby
I just watched yet another one of those stories about the poor Blue Dogs who
simply have to vote against health care because the upstanding Real Americans
in their district just won't stand for all these liberal elites socializin' our excellent health care system. This CNN
piece with John King was filmed in bucolic
Certainly, these places really are incredibly beautiful and the people who live
there are as American as apple pie. But so is
Even worse, the idea that the Blue Dogs are in particular danger of losing
their seats is not necessarily correct. Michael Tomasky
looked into it recently:
So what I'm
trying to get at here is: how vulnerable, really, are some of these Blue Dogs?
To hear them talk sometimes, you'd think if they depart one iota from a basically
conservative agenda, the voters will toss them out. I'm not insensitive to that
prospect. As we will see, some Blue Dogs have very legitimate concerns. And
obviously, one who represents a mostly rural district can't establish a pattern
of voting like Maxine Waters. Everybody gets this.
But a lot of them play that violin way too often, confident that big-city
reporters in
As you may have guessed he determined that, for the most part, they aren't very
vulnerable at all:
You'll
notice, if you're familiar with the current debates
and with some of these people, the interesting fact that some of the more vocal
Blue Dogs are among those with the most comfortable margins. As I noted in a
post the other day, Mike Ross of
You will also notice if you really study this list that McCain won many of
these districts rather narrowly. In fact, he won 24 of them by 10 points or
fewer. This hardly makes these districts scarlet red.
You can see also how many of these members either run
unopposed or face only token opposition in these red districts. Many of them
are long-time incumbents and fixtures. Even some with only modestly positive
MVM figures are solid incumbents, as you can tell by looking at their margins:
Gene Taylor (number 24 on the list, +50), Ike Skelton (number 31, +32), Dan
Boren (number 32, +40).
My conclusion? Yes, some Democrats have to be very
careful and not be seen as casting a liberal vote. But they're a comparatively
small number. A very clear majority of these people have won by large enough
margins that it sure seems to me they could survive one controversial vote if
they some backbone into it.
But many of these folks manage to sell this story line to
I agree. But it probably wouldn't change anything because these people actually
are conservatives who believe in the things they are doing. Their
"vulnerability" is simply the excuse they use to collect money and
power within the Democratic Party. In fact, they are Trojan horses, operating
inside the Big Tent to carry out conservative goals no matter which party is in
charge. And the party leadership surely knows this and allows it to continue
for reasons of their own.
The media, on the other hand, keeps up the mythmaking because it's a fun story
that allows them to continue the lazy pretense that the world is constructed
like a TV sit-com. And that's probably an even bigger problem than the Blue
Dogs being Blue Dogs.
Excellent
sociological/spiritual background & reference-
Michael Lerner - Obama Health Care Shoulds
http://www.tikkun.org/article.php?story=20090723205552487
Bait and Switch - How
"public option" was sold. Must read for everyone who cares
http://www.pnhp.org/blog/2009/07/20/bait-and-switch-how-the-“public-option”-was-sold/
Norman Solomon | Spinning
Health Care
http://www.truthout.org/072309R?n
Norman Solomon, Truthout: "'I want to cover everybody,' President Obama
said at his news conference Wednesday night. 'Now, the
truth is that unless you have a - what's called a single-payer system, in which
everybody's automatically covered, then you're probably not going to reach
every single individual ...' The same conventional wisdom keeping single payer
off Washington's table has been spinning for various 'reform' plans with such
accelerated RPMs that at this point the nation's
'health care debate' is suffering from a severe case of vertigo."
Marc Ash | Why Health Care
Isn't Going Away
http://www.truthout.org/073009R?n
Marc Ash, Truthout: "Watching the Dixiecrats
supposedly impose fiscal responsibility on the 'unrealistic liberals,' who, in
theory, would go off and provide health care to all Americans if someone didn't
put a stop to them, you have to wonder if this isn't all for show."
Pelosi: House Democrats
Have the Votes on Health Care Tnx Janie Shephard
http://www.truthout.org/072309A?n
David Espo, The Associated Press: "Democrats
command the votes needed to pass a sweeping health care bill through the House,
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday, an unexpected statement that quickly drew
a biting response from conservative members of the party's rank-and-file
demanding changes in President Barack Obama's trademark legislation."
House
Talks Break Down--Will Waxman Steam Roll Blue Dogs?
By Brian Beutler -
Just
about an hour ago, negotiations between Blue Dogs on the House Energy and
Commerce Committee, and chairman Henry Waxman broke down, perhaps
irreconcilably.
Beth Cardosi
| Single-Payer System Cuts Barriers to Care
http://www.truthout.org/073009V?n
Beth Cardosi, The Sun News: "I'm a physician in
Roger J. Newell | American
Health Care: View From Expatriate Who Came Home
http://www.truthout.org/072209V?n
Roger J. Newell, The Oregonian: "As the health care reform debate revs up,
the vested interests in the status quo warn against any alterations that might
damage 'the world's best health care system.' In the 1980's I was a temporary
resident in
New Rule: Not Everything in America Has to Make a Profit by Bill Maher
How about this for a New Rule: Not
everything in America has to make a profit. It used to be that there were some
services and institutions so vital to our nation that they were exempt from
market pressures. Some things we just didn't do for money. The United States
always defined capitalism, but it didn't used to define us. But now it's
becoming all that we are.
Dean Baker | Good Medicine: Why Not for Everyone?
http://www.truthout.org/072709A?n
Dean Baker, Truthout: "As part of his health care package, President Obama
proposed creating an independent commission of medical experts that would
determine the medical procedures for which Medicare will pay.... President
Obama describes this as promoting good medicine. He has a case, but there is
one problem with this picture. If the plan is to promote good medicine, why are
we just doing it for the elderly receiving Medicare? Why don't we want good
medicine for everyone?"
Nine More Go to Jail for Single Payer
http://www.truthout.org/072909B?n
David Swanson, After Downing Street: "Following a pattern of civil
resistance in Washington D.C. and around the country, citizens in Des Moines
Iowa on Monday risked arrest to press for the creation of single-payer
healthcare, the establishment of healthcare as a human right, and an end to the
deadly practices of Iowa's largest health insurance company, Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield."
Dear BC --
Using his line-item veto power, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
just made $489 million in NEW cuts to California's budget. Together, we can
stop him and save lives -- but we don't have much time.
These new budget cuts will hurt people. These cuts may even kill people.
Even worse, these cuts are in addition to the devastating cuts included in the
budget agreement passed by the legislature last week. Below are just a few of
the horrific details.
This
doesn't have to happen. The state legislature has the power to override these
vetoes and save these vital services that Gov. Schwarzenegger is trying to
destroy.
First, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell
Steinberg need to call legislators back to
To stop these cuts before they take effect, we have to act
now. That's why we need you to contact Speaker Bass and Senate President Pro
Tem Steinberg right now and ask them to call legislators back to Sacramento for
a veto override session. Just click here to make your voice heard ASAP:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/OverrideTheCuts
After hearing the news, State Senator Mark Leno told the media that "my
colleagues and I will fight these devastating cuts with everything we
have."
Bass, Steinberg and Leno are claiming that the vetoes are illegal and plan to
go to court to stop the cuts from taking place.
We applaud this action, but we don't have to wait for the courts to rule.
The Legislature can stop these cuts by overriding the vetoes right now. It's
time for Californians to stand up and insist that our legislators take
immediate action and pledge to reverse Gov. Schwarzenegger's new budget cuts.
Time is short. You can try to stop these devastating new
cuts by calling on Speaker Bass and Senate President Pro Tem Steinberg right
now to override the Gov. Schwarzenegger's line-item vetoes. Just click here to
make your voice heard today:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/OverrideTheCuts