NewsRack: newstrust/Health-Care/Health-Care-Reform

GOP to force vote on strategy - Washington Post

Ben Pershing — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

44 | Adding to ongoing war of words, party to introduce resolution "ensuring up-or-down vote."

Alexander Admits Senate GOP Will Obstruct Fixes To Improve Health Care Bill Simply For Partisan Gain - NewsTrust Yahoo Pipes Feed

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Yesterday, while discussing the Democrats procedural options for finishing health care reform, the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein discussed how the political dynamics would change if the House passes the Senate bill and then a reconciliation bill with some substantive fixes is considered: If the Senate bill is passed and Democrats are just getting rid of the [...]

March 16 Readers' letters - San Jose Mercury News: Letters

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Letters from Mercury News readers.

Matheson on the fence as Obama hopes for a yes from Blue Dogs - Salt Lake Tribune

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Washington » White House officials said Tuesday that some Blue Dog Democrats have privately promised to vote for health reform despite their previous opposition.

There Will Not Be an Up or Down Vote on ObamaCare - Red State

() — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

The left is upset that the major news media is reporting that the “Slaughter Rule” may have some constitutional problems. Lefties are apoplectic that somebody would dare to argue that the House has to actually vote on the Senate passed ObamaCare bill before it is sent to the President and signed into law. Article 1, Section 7, states that “Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a Law, be presented to the President of the United States .” How does the left explain a scenario where a bill ”pass the House of Representatives” without a vote, yet conforms with the constitution? Maybe Marc Ambinder argues for the Atlantic that the House does not need to ...

Matthews: Unlike MSNBC and CNN 'There's Absolutely No Debate' on Fox News - NewsTrust Yahoo Pipes Feed

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Last night it was the Republican Party that was caught in the crosshairs of Chris Matthews, which he accused of being too "narrow." Well on Tuesday's Hardball, the MSNBC host turned his sights on Fox News and charged that on their airwaves "there's absolutely no debate." During a segment in which Matthews invited on NBC chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd to break down the latest poll numbers on Obamacare Matthews offered up the following explanation as to why it remains so unpopular: [ audio available here ] CHRIS MATTHEWS: You know, you know on this network, on this network if you listen to this network, there's a lot of debate on MSNBC about this health care bill. Left versus center-left, whatever. CHUCK TODD: Sure. ...

Early Show Gives Liberals Unchallenged Health Care Soap Box - NewsTrust Yahoo Pipes Feed

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

CBS “Early Show” host Harry Smith used the top of the broadcast today to transmit liberal talking points on health care reform without bringing on a single conservative to articulate opposition. First, CBS Senior White House Correspondent Bill Plante’s glowing description of the benefits of passing health care reform went unchallenged: It is expected to increase assistance for lower income people to afford health care, increase federal funding for the Medicaid program, and raise prescription drug benefits under Medicare. If the bills are signed into law, they would immediately forbid insurers from setting limits on dollar coverage or canceling policies in most cases. Children could then remain on their parents' insurance until age 26. In ...

Jack Cafferty: Pelosi 'Beyond Sleazy' For Endorsing Slaughter Solution - NewsTrust Yahoo Pipes Feed

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

CAFFERTY: Just when you think you've seen it all in Washington, along comes something like this. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may try to pass the controversial health care reform bill without making members vote on it- simply unbelievable. Pelosi says she might use a procedural tactic where the House will vote on the package of fixes to the Senate bill, and then that vote would signify that lawmakers- quote, 'deem' the health care bill to be passed. Politically speaking, this is beyond sleazy. It's meant to protect House Democrats, who are all running for reelection in November, from having to make a tough vote up or down on health care reform. Pelosi says of this process- quote, 'I like it, because people don't have to vote on the Senate ...

Health Care Reform Could Revamp Student Lending - NPR: Healthcare

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Health care overhaul could help Democrats get student aid reforms passed. The change would shift lending from private banks to the Education Department. Advocates say it could save at least $67 billion, which could be put back into more financial aid for needy students.

Public split on support for health care bill - MSNBC

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

The American public is evenly divided about whether the legislation should be passed or rejected, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. ...

Israel slapped America – and may have jolted Obama awake | Jonathan Freedland - The Guardian -- World Latest

Jonathan Freedland — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

The row over Joe Biden's visit gives Washington the chance to dispense with endless talks about talks and push for real peace Things might get tense in the green room next week at the Walter E Washington Convention Centre in Washington, DC. Among the guest speakers at the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee , or Aipac, will be both Hillary Clinton and Binyamin Netanyahu. Normally the US secretary of state and Israel's prime minister could be expected to engage in a mutual love-in. But these are not normal times. On Friday night Clinton surprised Netanyahu at home with a phone call that amounted to a 43-minute bollocking . Two days later President Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, accused Israel of an ...

How Chris Dodd's FinReg proposal solves the problem of information, but not of regulators - Ezra Klein

Ezra Klein — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Consider this: Regulators such as the Federal Reserve had 48 hours of warning before the fall of AIG. They had 72 hours before the collapse of Bear Stearns. The system's most powerful watchdogs had no idea that the most dangerous firms were ticking time bombs. And as we know, when the bombs went off, they had no idea what to do. Chris Dodd's financial-regulation proposal (pdf) is an effort to make sure they're never caught unaware, or unprepared, again. Insofar as Dodd's proposal has a clear theory of the case and its solution, it's this: At every point in the chain of events that led to the financial crisis, there was a crucial information deficit. Consumers didn't understand the products they were buying. Regulators didn't understand the ...

Dear Tea Party: This Is What America Stands For - Esquire

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

A message to the new believers in our country's "can't-do" spirit, and a history lesson for the eve of health care reform

In Chicago, Sebelius pushes for health care reform - Chicago Tribune: Business

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

In Chicago, Sebelius pushes for health care reform

Clinic: Ohioan championed by Obama will keep home - AP National

By MEGHAN BARR — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) -- A woman championed as the Obama administration's emblem for health care reform does not have to choose between her home and her health, according to officials at the Ohio hospital where she is being treated....

Video: As Democrats move for voteless health-care bill, Bachmann joins protest - Twincities.com: News

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

WASHINGTON — Democrats defended plans to push massive health care legislation through the House without a direct vote and Republicans assailed the strategy Tuesday, as both parties fenced ferociously over the health overhaul end game.

The Reconciliation Package - The Atlantic - Matthew Ygblesias

myglesias — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

I feel like a lot of people are missing the significance of the fact that Senate Democrats aren’t, in fact, planning to “pass the health care bill” through reconciliation. They’ve already passed a comprehensive health reform bill under the regular order. And the House of Representatives passed a basically similar one. What’s poised to happen [...]

Financial Reform’s Missing Advocates - The Atlantic - Matthew Ygblesias

myglesias — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

The big problem with financial regulatory reform is that as best I can tell nobody’s for it. Nobody, that it, in the sense of interest group advocates ready to lean on members of congress, make specific demands, hold feet to the fire, etc. Everybody’s for it in a broad general sense and it’s popular, but [...]

Details of the health care overhaul plan - Star Tribune: Politics

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Three dozen House Democrats feel pressure from all sides in 'March madness' health care drive - Star Tribune: Politics

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

GOP challenges legitimacy of health overhaul, saying Dems abuse rules, ignore public - Star Tribune: Politics

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Bill Clinton: Health reform will pass - Raw Story

Agence France-Presse — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

WASHINGTON -- Former president Bill Clinton predicted Tuesday that President Barack Obama's signature health overhaul will become law even as fellow Democrats in the US Congress hunted for critical, elusive votes. "I just want it to pass, and I think it will," he told reporters during a rare visit to the US Capitol for closed-door [...]

MSNBC's David Shuster Hits 'Far Right' Protesters Who Are 'Going Nuts' on Capitol Hill - NewsBusters

Scott Whitlock — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

MSNBC host David Shuster on Tuesday demonstrated his condescension for conservative tea party activists, deriding protesters who had arrived in Washington as "far right" and "going nuts." Talking to reporter Richard Wolffe, he chided, " I mean, what does the White House make of the opposition on the far right?" [Audio available here .] Later in the day, Shuster showed video of demonstrators who oppose the health care bill and dismissed, " Tea partiers are going nuts over the process Nancy Pelosi may use to pass the bill, even though it's the same process Republicans used when they were in power." In the 10am hour, the MSNBC anchor talked to Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar. He brought up the very ...

A Benign NY Times View of the 'Slaughter' House Rule to Pass Obama-Care Without a Vote - NewsBusters

Clay Waters — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Eternally optimistic New York Times pro-Obama-care reporter David Herszenhorn's Tuesday morning post managed to make the desperate proposal by House Democrats to pass a massive federal expansion of health care entitlement spending without actually voting on the legislation sound like an innocuous procedural wrinkle: “ Passing Health Care Legislation, Tucked in a Rule .” According to a plan by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the House would vote on changes to the Senate-approved bill, which would then be "deemed" to have passed the House without actually being voted on in the House. As they push for a climactic vote on major health care legislation, House Democratic leaders face a bit of a conundrum: rank-and-file lawmakers detest the ...

Can Health Care Investments Stimulate the Economy? - Health Affairs Blog

Leighton Ku — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Editor’s Note: In addition to Dr. Leighton Ku (photo and bio above), the authors of this post include Dr. Peter Shin, an Associate Research Professor and Director of the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, and Brian Bruen, a Lead Research Scientist and Lecturer at [...]