Archive for November, 2009:
Morning News
From Politico:
"It would be a mistake to conclude that the international community's failure to reach a final treaty in Copenhagen is due to a lack of domestic legislation in the United States," said a senior White House official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.
The United States, said officials, plans to propose a near-term emissions reduction target as part of a "meaningful submission" the country will present at the talks.
Just what that meaningful submission will be remains unclear. But the White House on Monday was clearly reaching out trying to change the negative narrative on the climate debate, making senior administration officials available to insist the U.S. will head to the climate change conference in Copenhagen next month with a real plan…
"I think we go into Copenhagen with a very, very strong hand," said one of the officials. "We have done I think more than anyone could have expected us to do in a short time."
The targets, said Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Ed Markey, will demonstrate U.S. leadership on the climate issue and encourage other nations to make firm commitments…
From Bloomberg:
When Hillary Clinton heard that an 8-year-old Saudi girl had been sold to a man in his 50s to pay off her father’s debt, the U.S. secretary of state telephoned Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal to protest.
Clinton’s call -- on the type of issue usually handled by an aide -- symbolized her fervor for making women’s advancement a core part of her national-security efforts, even in dealing with problems such as Iran’s suspected nuclear threat or the Islamist violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“Women are key to our being able to resolve all of those difficult conflicts,” Clinton said in an August speech. Since then, she has pursued initiatives to help women gain political power, personal safety and enough money to help their communities and countries improve economically and transition to democracy.
“There is nothing that has been more important to me over the course of my lifetime than advancing the rights of women and girls,” she said in a Nov. 6 Washington speech. “And it is now a cornerstone of American foreign policy…”
In case you missed it, from the New York Times:
…But with roughly a quarter of the stimulus money out the door after nine months, the accumulation of hard data and real-life experience has allowed more dispassionate analysts to reach a consensus that the stimulus package, messy as it is, is working.
The legislation, a variety of economists say, is helping an economy in free fall a year ago to grow again and shed fewer jobs than it otherwise would. Mr. Obama’s promise to “save or create” about 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010 is roughly on track, though far more jobs are being saved than created, especially among states and cities using their money to avoid cutting teachers, police officers and other workers.
“It was worth doing — it’s made a difference,” said Nigel Gault, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, a financial forecasting and analysis group based in Lexington, Mass.
Mr. Gault added: “I don’t think it’s right to look at it by saying, ‘Well, the economy is still doing extremely badly, therefore the stimulus didn’t work.’ I’m afraid the answer is, yes, we did badly but we would have done even worse without the stimulus.”
In interviews, a broad range of economists said the White House and Congress were right to structure the package as a mix of tax cuts and spending, rather than just tax cuts as Republicans prefer or just spending as many Democrats do. And it is fortuitous, many say, that the money gets doled out over two years — longer for major construction — considering the probable length of the “jobless recovery” under way as wary employers hold off on new hiring…
Morning News
From The Atlantic:
When I reached Jonathan Gruber on Thursday, he was working his way, page by laborious page, through the mammoth health care bill Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had unveiled just a few hours earlier. Gruber is a leading health economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is consulted by politicians in both parties...
"I'm sort of a known skeptic on this stuff," Gruber told me. "My summary is it's really hard to figure out how to bend the cost curve, but I can't think of a thing to try that they didn't try. They really make the best effort anyone has ever made. Everything is in here....I can't think of anything I'd do that they are not doing in the bill. You couldn't have done better than they are doing..."
The attempt in all these ideas to nudge the medical system away from fee-for-service medicine toward an approach that ties compensation more closely to results captures how much the health care debate has shifted toward cost-control. So far, the rise in health care spending has proven almost invulnerable to every previous attempt to tame it, like the managed care revolution in the 1990s. Even if Obama signs into law a final bill embodying all these reform proposals, many skeptics wonder if they can bend, much less break, the seemingly inexorable increase in health care spending. Reischauer understands that skepticism, but isn't able to entirely suppress a kernel of optimism that this latest reform agenda may prove more effective than its predecessors. "One never knows whether we're turning the corner or if this is just playing the same old game for another inning," he says. "But I sense there's something different out there. I think the medical profession and its leaders have read the handwriting on the wall and are trying to evolve." If so, the ideas the Senate will begin voting on tonight could mark a milestone in that journey.
From the Washington Post:
The Senate voted along party lines Saturday night to overcome a Republican filibuster and bring to the floor a bill that would overhaul the nation's health-care system...
The 60 to 39 vote marks a milestone in the decades-old quest for health-care reform, President Obama's top legislative priority. "The road to this point has been started many times," Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid said before the vote. "It has never been completed." The debate is expected to last weeks. Reid is aiming for final passage by Christmas.
"We know not all 60 senators in my caucus agree on every aspect of this bill," Reid told reporters. "But they agree on the vast, vast majority."
The Senate bill would provide coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans by vastly expanding Medicaid and creating insurance "exchanges" for individuals who do not have access to affordable coverage through their employers. For the first time, it would require most people to carry health coverage, although families with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level would receive subsidies to buy policies.
The legislation would also force widespread changes to the insurance industry to end discriminatory practices, including the rejection of coverage based on preexisting conditions. It would provide new incentives to encourage disease prevention and to institute the most effective treatments for chronic conditions such as diabetes and asthma...
From the Wall Street Journal:
U.S. President Barack Obama, fresh from his first presidential trip to Asia, called for the U.S. to increase exports to that region, saying even small gains would help put many unemployed Americans back on the job.
"As we emerge from the worst recession in generations, there is nothing more important than to do everything we can to get our economy moving again and put Americans back to work, and I will go anywhere to pursue that goal," Mr. Obama said in his weekly radio address to the nation.
The president's remarks follow his four-nation tour of Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea, a trip he said was prompted largely by economic interests. Now back in the U.S., he promised to continue to focus on ways to combat U.S. unemployment.
Mr. Obama warned the U.S. shouldn't return to relying on growth fueled by consumer borrowing, urging the nation to spend less, save more and get the record federal deficit under control. He also called for a greater emphasis on exports, saying a 5% increase in U.S. exports to Asia would result in hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs.
The president touted an upcoming White House forum on jobs and economic growth, where business executives and owners, labor unions, economists and financial experts will discuss ways to spur hiring and get the economy moving again...
A Big Step: Senate Votes to Begin Debate on Health Reform Bill
Just a few moments ago, the Senate voted 60-39 to move forward with debate on health reform legislation. OFA Director Mitch Stewart explained:
For the first time ever, the Senate just voted to begin debate on a comprehensive health insurance reform bill. This was the first big hurdle we had to overcome to pass reform through the full Senate.
The decision was close -- and insurance company lobbyists were working overtime to defeat us -- but your calls this week made a huge difference.
There are more fights ahead, but this is a big victory and I wanted to take a minute to thank you for making it possible.
The Senate is expected to begin debate following the Thanksgiving break.
Senate to Vote Tonight on Motion to Proceed to Health Reform Legislation
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced the Senate version of the health reform bill on Wednesday, and tonight the full Senate is expected to vote on the "motion to proceed," which would clear the way for the Senate to begin debate on the bill. Sixty votes are needed to pass cloture on the motion, after which the bill would move to the floor for discussion.
CNN reports:
Proceedings got under way shortly before 10 a.m. Saturday and will last through the early evening.
Around 8 p.m., the Senate will hold a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture.
Reid needs 60 votes to overcome a certain GOP filibuster attempt and open the chamber's debate on the bill. It also would take 60 votes to close debate that could last for weeks, while final approval of the bill would require only a simple majority.
Now, the Senate
From Mitch Stewart:
On Wednesday night, Senate leadership unveiled their final health reform package. It's a great bill that accomplishes President Obama's core goals for reform: provide more security for those who have insurance, guarantee affordable coverage options for those who don't, and rein in the cost of care for American businesses and families.
And it accomplishes all of this while reducing the deficit by as much as $777 billion over the next 20 years.
Now, we're in the final sprint toward reform, and the next challenge is already here.
Today, senators are listening carefully to see how constituents react to the bill and how we want them to proceed. So it's our job to make sure they hear quickly and unmistakably: Move forward!
On Saturday, the Senate faces a close vote on whether or not to begin debate, so it's critical to weigh in right away. Click here to call your senators now.
Just tell whomever answers the phone where you live and that you support the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- and want the Senate to begin discussing it right away.
After you've called, click here to tell us how it went:
http://my.barackobama.com/SenateVote
Many senators have worked tirelessly to get us this far, and they deserve our thanks. But it is crucial that every senator knows that we are counting on them to stand up to the insurance industry and support reform -- and that we will be right there standing with them.
We're getting so close, and your incredible work is a big part of why we've been successful so far. Let's keep it up and get this job done.
Thanks,
Mitch
Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America
Morning News
From the New York Times:
The Senate is expected to vote Saturday on whether to take up [health reform] legislation. The majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, refused to say Thursday whether he had the 60 votes needed to clear that procedural hurdle.
While the guts of the Senate and House bills are similar, Mr. Reid came up with a new method of financing coverage, not found in any other major health bill. His proposal would significantly increase the Medicare payroll tax for high-income people.
The Senate and House bills would provide coverage to millions of the uninsured by expanding Medicaid and subsidizing private insurance for people with moderate incomes.
The Senate bill would spend $821 billion over 10 years on Medicaid and subsidies. The House bill would spend 25 percent more: $1.03 trillion over 10 years...
Mr. Reid and other Democratic leaders said that the unveiling of the bill, hatched in his office, had given them political momentum going into the first test vote. Despite solid Republican opposition, the Democrats said they were confident they could enact some kind of national health insurance program, a goal that has eluded politicians for more than 75 years. But Congress appears highly unlikely to meet President Obama's goal of finishing work on the bill this year.
From Politico:
He doesn’t have the votes — yet — but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and fellow Democrats projected confidence they could clear the first hurdle for health reform, a rare Saturday vote to open debate on the sweeping measure.
Reid also got one piece of good news as Republicans at least tentatively dropped their plans to force a reading of the 2,074-page bill, in exchange for a daylong debate, starting in the morning and culminating with a vote at about 8 p.m. Saturday...
Most senators said they had yet to read through the entire bill — or the summaries that their staff members were preparing. Reid’s plan would expand coverage to 94 percent of Americans through a government-run health insurance option — allowing states to opt out — and other features, all while reducing future federal deficits by $130 billion during the next 10 years, according to a Congressional Budget Office report.
“I just like the numbers,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who pledged to read “every word.” “I love the deficit reduction...
From the Editorial Page of the New York Times:
An expert panel’s recommendation that mammography screening to detect breast cancer be scaled back has caused consternation among women and doctors and prompted some attempts to connect the results to the debate over health care...
It is important to keep the findings and recommendations in perspective. They are guidance for women and doctors. The decision about whether to be screened is properly left to each woman — to determine with the help of her doctor what risks and benefits she is most comfortable accepting...
Opponents of the health care reform bills moving through Congress have seized on the new recommendations as evidence that the government is seeking to put bureaucrats between you and your doctor or that it would ration care by denying coverage for some mammograms that are now covered.
There is virtually no chance that any insurers, either public or private, will deny coverage to anyone based on these recommendations. Government and industry officials have said that explicitly and, in fact, every state but Utah requires private insurers to pay for mammograms for women starting in their 40s...
The only part of the reform bills that could affect mammography would only make them more accessible...
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled the Senate’s version of the health insurance reform legislation – the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – this afternoon at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol.
The bill achieves President Obama’s three principles of reform: more security and stability for people who have insurance; more quality, affordable options to those who don’t; and bringing down the high costs of care for American families, businesses and our government itself.
The bill would extend coverage to 31 million Americans and reduce the deficit by $127 billion in the first ten years, and by $650 billion in the second decade. Here’s an excerpt from President Obama’s statement about the bill:
“…From day one, our goal has been to enact legislation that offers stability and security to those who have insurance and affordable coverage to those who don’t, and that lowers costs for families, businesses and governments across the country. Majority Leader Reid, Chairmen Baucus and Dodd, and countless Senators have worked tirelessly to craft legislation that meets those principles.
Just yesterday, a bipartisan group of more than 20 leading health economists released a letter urging passage of meaningful reform and praising four key provisions that are in the Senate legislation: a fee on insurance companies offering high-premium plans, the establishment of an independent Medicare commission, reforms to the health care delivery system, and overall deficit neutrality. The economists said that these provisions ‘will reduce long-term deficits, improve the quality of care, and put the nation on a firm fiscal footing.’ Those are precisely the goals we should be seeking to attain.
The challenges facing our health care system aren’t new – but if we fail to act they’ll surely get even worse, meaning higher premiums, skyrocketing costs, and deeper instability for those with coverage. Today, thanks to the Senate’s hard work, we’re closer than ever to enacting solutions to these problems. I look forward to working with the Senate and House to get a finished bill to my desk as soon as possible."
The Senate is expected to vote on a "motion to proceed" - a procedural vote in order for full debate to begin - sometime this weekend.
Morning News
From the New York Times:
Democratic leaders in the Senate on Wednesday unveiled their proposal for overhauling the health care system, outlining legislation that they said would cover most of the uninsured while reducing the federal budget deficit.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said at an evening news conference that the legislation, embodying President Obama’s signature domestic initiative, would impose new regulations on insurers, extend coverage to 31 million people who currently do not have any and add new benefits to Medicare.
Mr. Reid said the bill, despite a price tag of $848 billion over 10 years, would reduce projected budget deficits by $130 billion over a decade because the costs would be more than offset by new taxes and fees and by reductions in the growth of Medicare.
Democrats expressed confidence that they would have the votes needed to move forward when the legislation hits its first test in the Senate, probably later this week. To get past that first procedural hurdle, Mr. Reid will need the votes of all 58 Democratic senators and the two independents aligned with them.
From the Wall Street Journal:
U.S. President Barack Obama pledged Thursday morning to ratify a free-trade agreement with South Korea that has been stuck for two years, challenging the U.S. Congress to separate South Korea from other Asian nations enjoying vast trade surpluses with the U.S.
He also said the U.S. and its allies will draft a package of sanctions "over the next several weeks" to show an intransigent Iran "the importance of having consequences…"
The free-trade agreement, the largest the U.S. has negotiated since the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico in the early 1990s, is expected to boost that more than $80 billion in annual two-way trade between South Korea and the U.S. by $10 billion to $20 billion about five years after ratification. U.S. food producers and auto makers stand to gain the most because Korean trade barriers are currently high in those markets.
From Bloomberg:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled an $849 billion health-care plan that would create new government competition for private insurers, cover almost all Americans and raise a payroll tax on the highest earners.
Reid’s proposal, the most sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health system in four decades, cleared a major hurdle when the Congressional Budget Office said it would cut the federal budget deficit by $127 billion in the first decade. That met a standard set by President Barack Obama and allows Reid to seek a vote as early as Saturday to open the way for Senate debate.
“This legislation is a tremendous step forward,” Reid told reporters at the Capitol last night. “Tonight begins the last leg of this journey…”
“We’re closer than ever to enacting solutions to these problems,” Obama said in a statement released by the White House. “I look forward to working with the Senate and House to get a finished bill to my desk as soon as possible…”
“We are now down to the week we have been waiting for,” Massachusetts Senator John Kennedy told reporters. “This is not just a matter of months in the waiting, this has been decades in the waiting.”
President Barack Obama said Thursday the United States has begun talking with allies about fresh punishment against Iran for defying efforts to halt its nuclear weapons pursuits.
Obama's tough talk came as Iran indicated it would not ship its low-enriched uranium to Russia for processing, the centerpiece of deal aimed at a peaceful resolution to Iran's contested nuclear program.
"They have been unable to get to `yes', and so as a consequence, we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences," Obama said in a brief news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak…
An Open Letter to Rep. Gerlach: Please Reconsider Your “No” Vote on Health Insurance Reform
The following is an open letter to Representative Gerlach asking him to reconsider his “No” vote on health insurance reform. A copy of this letter was also hand-delivered to his office.
Representative Gerlach:
On November 4, 2008 I was one of the majority of voters in Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District who voted for President Obama. Like so many others, I voted not only for the man and his leadership qualities, but also for his stance on the critical issues facing our country. I voted to change the status quo and to move this country in a better direction.
One of the critical issues I voted to change is our nation’s health care system. It is widely recognized that the cost of our health insurance system is out of control. Costs continue to rise as quality of care diminishes. Health insurance reform is an economic necessity and it is a moral imperative. Far too many of your constituents go uninsured or underinsured every day.
The Affordable Health Care for America Act, which you voted against, will provide quality, affordable choices for the millions of Americans who are uninsured. And the bill will bring down the high costs of care for American families and businesses, while lowering our deficit. Representative Gerlach: I urge you to reconsider your vote and support this much-needed legislation.
This year, as a volunteer for Organizing for America, I’ve been reaching out to my neighbors in the 6th Congressional District, in support of President’s Health Reform Plan. I can report that the overwhelming majority of constituents with whom I, and dozens of other dedicated volunteers spoke with, support the President’s plan for reform. As you may recall, in September we delivered nearly 5,000 declarations to you from your constituents in support of the President’s plan. I am writing today on behalf of the thousands of your constituents who support the President’s plan to ask you, as our representative in Washington, to put aside partisan differences and vote for reform later this year.
Those of us fortunate enough to have private health insurance through our employers are now in the “open enrollment period”. Two weeks ago, I was notified by my employer that my portion of my health insurance premium payments will increase by 30 percent. Let there be no doubt: I can unequivocally state that my payments are increasing at an alarming and unsustainable rate. Unfortunately, my situation is in no way unique.
Make no mistake – I feel very fortunate to have health insurance coverage. Unlike many of your other constituents, I’ve not had to face the harsh pre-existing conditions clause, the tragic bankruptcy brought on by catastrophic health care issues, or the shocking expense of the Medicare prescription plan “donut-hole.”
But there is hope. As the Thanksgiving Holiday approaches, I’m thankful that the President, Pennsylvania’s Senators, and the leadership in the House of Representatives all recognize our nation’s urgent need for Health insurance reform. I’m thankful for their diligent efforts to keep what’s working, and fix what’s broken.
Representative Gerlach, I encourage you to join with us, the majority of your constituents, in support of passing meaningful health insurance reform this year. When the House takes up a final health insurance bill later this year, I call on you to listen to your constituents, reconsider your vote, and support the legislation that is consistent with President Obama’s principles of reform.
Respectfully,
Gregory M.
Malvern, PA