Health-Care Bill Clears Senate Hurdle
Democrats united Saturday night to push the health care legislation past a key Senate hurdle over the opposition of Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama.
The Republican’s position does indeed appear to be a continuation of the campaign to defeat the president’s initiatives, rather than proposing anything constructive and helpful to the American people. The desire to “show him” seems stronger than the desire to actually achieve something that’s needed and at least in the long run – beneficial. That’s nothing new, of course. Just listen to the de-facto leader of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, or any of the other conservative blabbermouths. There is no doubt that the interest of the country as a whole has been put on the back burner, in favor of hurting, or even destroying anything that Barack Obama is doing.
The 60-39 vote cleared the way for a full-scale debate beginning after Thanksgiving on the legislation, which is designed to extend coverage to roughly 31 million who do not have it, control insurance company practices that deny or dilute benefits and curtail the growth of spending on medical care.
Majority Leader Harry Reid accused Republicans of trying to prevent a historic debate that the nation needed.
“Imagine if, instead of debating whether to abolish slavery, instead of debating whether giving women and minorities the right to vote, those who disagreed had muted discussion and killed any vote,” he said.
The Republican leader, Senator Mitch McConnell said the vote was anything but procedural – describing it as a referendum on the bill itself, which he said would raise taxes, cut Medicare and create a “massive and unsustainable debt.”
The fate of the Saturday night showdown had been sealed hours earlier, when two final Democratic holdouts, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, announced they would join in clearing the way for a full debate.
We will be watching the upcoming debate, although we do not intend to waste our time in hearing the usual, vicious opinions of the conservative pundits.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs issued a statement saying the president was gratified by the vote, which he says “brings us one step closer to ending insurance company abuses, reining in spiraling health care costs, providing stability and security to those with health insurance, and extending quality health coverage to those who lack it.”
The legislation would require most Americans to carry insurance and provide subsidies to those who cannot afford it. Large companies could incur penalties if they do not provide coverage to their workforce. The insurance industry would come under significant new regulation under the bill, which would first ease and then ban the practice of denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions.
Congressional budget analysts put the legislation’s cost at $979 billion over a decade and said it would reduce deficits over the same period while extending coverage to 94 percent of the eligible population.
In relation to the health-care reform debate and to the Republican (and Joe Lieberman’s) opposition to it, it might be worthwhile to quote a letter by George Washington to his nephew supporting adoption of the Constitution, to which there was considerable opposition as well..
General Washington castigated critics of the Constitution and stated that they seek to “rouse the apprehensions of the ignorant & unthinking . . . [with] objections . . . better calculated to alarm the fears, than to convince the judgement of their readers.”
These comments seem equally applicable to those Republican senators opposed to health-care reform.
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And since the new mammography recommendations seem to have brought outrage from both sides of the aisle, we would like to present another incisive cartoon on the subject from Washington Post’s Tom Toles.
Tagged with: bill • Clears • democrats • Health care • Hurdle • insurance industry • reform • republicans • senate
Filed under: Business • Health • Health care • Human Rights • U.S. Politics • US • congress • conservatives • greed • politics • republicans
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$300 million to pay off one senator. What a disgusting farce.
Interesting….Could you maybe tell us Harrison how this supposed transaction took place? Was it cash, check, or a bank transfer?
Mr. Politicus, do you think they are really talking about the problems that most of their constituents faces, or that they’re just kidding around like a buncha Filla Busters ?
I want to see it on TeeVee – show me the the discussion.
then I’ll believe they are serious about getting the mess
sorted out. the president makes a special appearance and they follow the lead, when he shows up; but what about when he’s not there ?
who are they following then ? certainly not their constituents or their conscious. they should have made this a done deal a long time
ago – so we can get on to the prosecutions of the real criminals.
anybody fryin turkey for thangsgiving ?
Good questions, Bad Gal. Who knows what these turkeys are really up to and in whose pocket are they sitting…
It was put into the bill. It gives that senator a “gift” that is only good in her state. Look it up… it’s a fact.
A clear case of THEFT:
To help secure her vote, Reid included a provision in the bill sought by Landrieu to provide increased Medicaid funds for states recovering from major disasters such as 2005’s Hurricane Katrina that devastated New Orleans and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. When the bill is closely examined, however, the provision provides immense financial support for only one state: Landrieu’s Louisiana.
Then, in a statement sure to be repeated by Republicans endlessly over the coming weeks of Senate health care debate, the senator flaunted the inclusion of the provision. “I will correct something. It’s not $100 million, it’s $300 million, and I’m proud of it and will keep fighting for it,” Landrieu told reporters after her floor speech. “But that is not why I started this health care debate; I started this health care debate for all the reasons I just mentioned in my statement” on the floor.
http://www.examiner.com/x-28018-Cincinnati-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m11d21-Sen-Landrieu-flaunts-purchased-vote-Its-not-100-million-its-300-million
Harrison, if that was the only cost… Louisiana got the shaft big-time under Bush after Katrina. Maybe they are long-overdue to receive some dough. I don’t believe that Landrieu is going to pocket the money.
Have you watched the first episode of this Sunday’s ‘60 Minutes’? Speaking of waste in health care. What a sham!
i agree with obamas healthcare reform!!
$300 million here, $300 million there… pretty soon it starts to add up.
Well now, $300,000,000 really is a lot of money. It’s not surprising that a sum such as that would catch the eagle eye of the “smaller government — lower taxes — less spending” crowd. Uh, wait a minute. We could do it the “Iraq” way! After all, that much money could have paid to kept that eight year war going for another whole day longer!
Oh well, we still have to learn the lesson of the GOP. Our plan wouldn’t really work unless we BORROWED the $300,000,000 then bitched when the Democrat who took over to straighten everything out had to pay it back.
But, this posting is about health care.
Heh, heh. It’s still not too late to just throw in the towel and start calling the Senate, telling them to just forget we ever even mentioned health care. Why, we could all apologize to folks like the Harrison. Tell them that we really didin’t mean it. That we really didn’t think it would bother them that much … get ‘em so exercised…
For a little humor, try MeanMesa Surrenders to the Rich
http://meanmesa.blogspot.com/2009/11/meanmesa-surrenders-to-rich.html
Chad, what is a measly $300 million, compared to the mass of cash we have wasted in Iraq? A mere pittance, as the British say.
If you think $300 million isn’t much why don’t you donate some of your personal fortune… since it’s less than $300 million I’d imagine, it should be a big deal.
Harrison, I have donated thousands already not only to Bush’s “war on terror”, but also to our bloated health care system.
President Obama has handled the presentation of the health care reform very well. He probably could have “rammed” something through by making threats and twisting arms, but instead he invited all the “worst players” — including certain Democrats — to step out into the light to earn their bribes and other corruption. That gave us a pretty confusing final version of the health care reform bill, but it gave us a really close look at just exactly whom among the crowd of players is “bought and paid for.”
Regardless of the outcome, the President has managed to get LOTS OF AMERICANS involved in the discussion! This is the opposite of the W’s autocracy. During those dark days, we were simply expected to sit there and take it.
Your “two wrongs make a right” logic is surely the sign of clear thinking.
And as for Mr. Hall’s comment… I seem to remember LOTS of discussion (it still goes on the more Obama tanks in the polls) about things.
Harrison, LOTS of discussions? I mostly remember how W terrorized all of the gullible people out there – including the jellyfish in Congress – with the supposed “dangers” and “need” to do this and that to fight the terrorism “threat”.
With only a few notable exceptions, all the sheepish jellyfish simply gave him whatever he wanted. All I remember was a LOT of mindless, brainless agreement and going along with a series of criminal enterprises.
Harrison’s “tanking in the polls” comment is well received. President Obama’s public poll rating has “descended” to a shocking 49% approval level. This has occurred thanks largely to the relentless — and, largely, rather pubescent — “attack attempts” issuing forth from those pillars of “honorable criticism,” the semi-skilled hill billies and bigots mouthing GOP talking points.
No one in his right mind would have dared calling the rather meat fisted autocract of the unelected previous administration a Muslim, a Kenyan, a Communist, a Fascist, a cannibal, etc.. At any point, Obama can rehabilitate his approval rating by simply authorizing a mass prosecution of the remainder of the crime family.
There are no statutes of limitation on such crimes as promoting illegal prosecution (Governor Siegleman), war profiteering (Halliburton), conspiracy (9/11), fraud (Goldman Sachs), Justice Roberts (conflict of interest) and the fraudulent initial “appointment” of the W for his first term, all acts drenched in blood and purloined treasure.
Which “two wrongs” are you referring to, Harrison?